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11 



I 



FROM 

THE GOLDEN' GATE 

TO 

THE GOLDEN HORN. 



A NARRATIVE OF TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE. 









BY \S 

HENRY FREDERIC REDDALL. 



»< ^ n 



NEW YORK: 
PHILLIPS & HUNT, 

CINCINNATI: 
CRANSTON & ST OWE, 

1885. 



Copyright, 1885, 
PHILLIPS & HUNT, 

New York. 



G 




CHAPTER I. Page 

" Hurrah for the Antipodes " 9 

CHAPTER H. 
On Blue Water 16 

CHAPTER in. 
Hawaii and its Lake of Fire 40 

CHAPTER IV. 
From Oahu to Niphon 64 

CHAPTER V. 
u The Land of the Rising Sun " 74 

CHAPTER VI. 

TOKIO AND AN EARTHQUAKE 89 

CHAPTER Vn. 
Japan and the Japanese 108 

CHAPTER VIII. 
A Typhoon in the China Sea 116 

CHAPTER IX. 
Canton and the Cantonese 130 

CHAPTER X. 
Manners and Customs in the Flowery Kingdom 154 



6 Contents. 

CHAPTER XI. PAGE 

A Great Surprise 164 

CHAPTER XII. 
Crossing the Line 179 

CHAPTER XIII. 
A Run Ashore at Batavia 193 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Among the " Arches " 205 

CHAPTER XV. 
A Week at Melbourne 225 

CHAPTER XVI. 
" The Land op the Veda " 249 

CHAPTER XVII. 
The Tomb op Shah Jehan 269 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
The Red Sea and the Suez Canal ' 284 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Alexandria, Ancient and Modern 298 

CHAPTER XX. 
Cairo and the Nile 314 

CHAPTER XXI. 
Jaffa and Jerusalem 333 

CHAPTER XXII. 
The City of Constantine 360 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page 

The Taj, Agra, India Frontispiece. 

Entrance to the Golden Gate 19 

The Deck of the " Panama " 21 

Harpooning a Whale 25 

The Whale's Flurry 27 

Bailing the " Case " 31 

" Land Ho ! " 41 

The Crater op Kilauea 51 

The Surf-Board 57 

Kealakeakua Bay, where Captain Cook was Killed 61 

The Dismasted " Hatteras " 71 

A Ride in a Jinrikisha 79 

Ancient Imperial Palace 85 

The Water-Spout 118 

In a Typhoon 122 

Chinese Junk 131 

A Chinese House-Boat : 132 

Front of a Chinese Bazar 136 

Street Water-Carrier in China 138 

A Chinese Domestic Scene 141 

Tea-Plant 143 

A Chinese Native Cart 146 

Chinese Standard 157 

Orchids 167 

A Mangrove Swamp 194 

Banana-Tree 202 

An Atoll, or Coral Ring 207 

Corals 210 



8 Illustrations. 

Page 

Coral Fishers 213 

Wreck of the " Xiobe " 220 

Woodland Scenery 233 

A Kangaroo 241 

The Emu 242 

A Boomerang 244 

River Scene in India 251 

The Kootub Minar, Delhi, India 261 

The Gate-way of the Taj 2*71 

On the Suez Canal 292 

Mode of Traveling in the East 305 

The Ancient Pharos at Alexandria , 307 

English Sailors Climbing Pompey's Pillar 309 

Tombs of the Mamelukes 316 

Mosque of Said, with a Glimpse of Street Scene in Cairo.. 31*7 

The Great Pyramid and the Sphinx 322 

A Xile Boat 323 

" Shadoof," or Irrigating Machine 328 

Jaffa from the Sea 334 

Interior of an Oriental Dwelling 338 

Modern Jerusalem 342 

The " Via Dolorosa " 344 

Tombs in the Valley of the Kedron , 34*7 

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher 350 

Wailing-Place, Jerusalem 353 

The Mosque of Omar 356 

Mount Carmel 861 

Distant View of Beyroot 363 

Constantinople and Environs 365 

The Mosque of St. Sophia, Constantinople 3*71 

An Oriental Interior 379 



FROM 

The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 



CHAPTER I. 

"HURRAH FOR THE ANTIPODES!" 

ACATION at Everett Academy was 
close at hand. Situated in the 
heart of the Berkshire Hills, among 
the boldest scenery of the old Bay 
State, this celebrated, school gath- 
ered to its halls the youth from a score of 
neighboring towns and cities. 

But among the crowd of boys therein 
congregated we are only specially interested 
in two — George and Arthur EJroy, the motherless 
sons of Eobert Elroy, Esq., member of a great 
manufacturing firm doing business in the Empire 
City. 

On the morning in leafy June when our story 
opens, an under-current of excitement pervaded the 
whole school, which was clearly not due to the 




10 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

intense interest of the lads in their studies or to the 
approaching examinations. 

Glances half envious, half admiring, were from 
time to time bestowed on the Elroj boys, and even 
the teachers were not wholly proof against the prev- 
alent feeling. 

Not to keep the reader in suspense, we will 
divulge the cause of this ripple upon the usually 
placid waters of Everett Academy. 

When that morning's mail arrived, a letter from 
Mr. Elroy had been received by his sons, in which 
occurred the following passage : 

" You are aware, my dear boys, that I intend 
making a business tour of the world, to consume 
about a year. Doubtless you have not forgotten that 
when we bade each other good-bye at Easter I said 
I might possibly have a proposition to make that 
would at once please and astonish you. I have 
about decided to invite you both to accompany me on 
this journey. Circumstances compel me to start in 
less than two weeks' time, but I must defer further 
explanations until next we meet." 

A wild whoop of delight from both boys attracted 
a swarm of schoolmates to their sides, like flies around 
a newly-opened sugar barrel. 



" Hurrah for the Antipodes ! " 11 

"Hurrah ! Hurrah ! All aboard for the antipodes ! " 
shouted Arthur, capering about, and waving the 
precious letter above his curly head ; while George, 
a trifle more dignified, and feeling fully six inches 
taller, explained, in excited and hurried tones, the 
treat in store for them. 

Visions of the reality and romance of travel and 
adventure — of Jules Verne's impossible voyages and 
of the thrilling experiences of Du Chaillu, Living- 
stone, Baker, and Stanley — flashed across the mind 
of every boy within hearing ; and the clanging of 
the recitation-bell only repressed for the time being 
the various expressions of wonder, enthusiasm, and 
congratulation showered upon Arthur and George 
from all sides. 

American machinery is justly famous throughout 
the world. From a locomotive to a railspike, from a 
reaping machine to a shovel, from an elevator to an 
egg-beater, the products of American brain and 
brawn may be found on the farms, in the factories, 
and by the firesides of the five great continents of 
the globe. 

The tour Mr. Elroy proposed making was for the 
purpose of introducing and extending the use of 
machinery of American manufacture in the interest 



12 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

of the firm in which he was a partner; and before 
he again reached home he expected to visit many 
countries, old and new, of historic interest and impor- 
tance in the Eastern and Western hemispheres. 

An unusually large order for machinery and tools 
had been received from sugar-planters in the Sand- 
wich Islands and from Japan, and to supervise the 
setting up of the various machines was another of 
the objects Mr. Elroy had in view. 

But he further intended to combine the recreation 
and pleasure to be derived from visiting strange 
climes with the more prosaic part of his mission 
abroad, and to this end he would often diverge from 
the beaten route of travel. 

Seeing that George and Arthur Elroy will be our 
fellow -voyagers for many months, they deserve a 
formal introduction. 

George, the eldest, stout and tall for the eighteen 
summers of his growth, and dark complexioned, is 
the life of the school. He is the best ball-player, the 
best swimmer, the best skater, and the fastest runner; 
but he is not the best scholar. Nor is he a dunce. 
He is simply, in the words of an admiring chum, " a 
first-rate all-round chap." 

Arthur, nearly two years his junior, is his opposite 



" Hurrah for the Antipodes ! " 13 

in most respects. Of finer make, fair and slender, 
he is distinguished more for excellence in studies 
than for eminence in sports. In the race for school 
honors he invariably outstrips his elder brother. 

But in certain traits the Elroy boys were alike 
and worthy of emulation — they were each truthful, 
reverent, gentlemanly fellows. They both were des- 
tined for college, and the close of their preparatory 
studies, now at hand, would find them well fitted 
for university life. 

But Mr. Elroy fully appreciated the morsel of 
truth contained in the saying, that "home-keeping 
youths have ever homely wits," and he believed that 
a year spent in foreign travel would broaden and 
expand their minds to such a degree as to prove 
of incalculable benefit to them in their future 
studies. 

Coupled with this thought was a reluctance to 
wholly separate himself from his "mitherless bairns" 
for so long a period as an entire year. The occasion 
of his going abroad afforded an opportunity to have 
them travel with him not likely to occur again, if 
ever, for years ; and after duly weighing the matter 
pro and can, he came to the conclusion outlined in 
the letter we have been permitted to peruse. 



14 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

Mr. Elroy paid a hurried visit to the boys on 
Commencement Day, and, as he had promised, ex- 
plained his plans at some length. They were to 
start almost immediately, traveling by rail across the 
continent to San Francisco ; thence by steamer to 
Honolulu, in the Sandwich Islands; and next to 
Japan and China and some of the British possessions 
in the East Indies: Further than that their route 
was not mapped out, but it was certain that, ere they 
again set foot in Yankee-land, they would have seen 
the glories of the realm of the Moguls and of the 
home of the Pharaohs. 

Needless to say that the fortnight that must elapse, 
pending their departure, was a time of thrilling 
excitement to our young friends. 

They left the academy covered with glory, honestly 
envied by every boy there, with enough commissions 
for foreign curiosities to freight a ship, and with 
requests for letters sufficient to burden Uncle Sam's 
mails for months to come. 

The actual preparations were few — they were to 
travel in light marching order ; and after sundry 
adieus had been said and written to a small army 
of uncles, aunts, and cousins, they found themselves, 
one sultry summer's night, at the Grand Central 



" Hurrah for the Antipodes ! " 



15 



Depot, in New York, to take the Pacific Express for 
San Francisco. 

A rapid six-days' flight toward the setting sun, 
and behold our trio of voyagers set down in that 
wondrous city in the land of gold, on the margin 
of the western ocean, fairly on their way to girdle 
the earth. 




16 



The Golden Gate to the Golden Hwn. 



CHAPTEE II. 




ON BLUE WATER. 

AN FRANCISCO has been nick- 
named "the Shadeless City." It 
is remarkable for the large num- 
ber of wooden houses, and for the 
almost total lack of shade trees. 
The material of the first is chosen be- 
cause it is less liable to injury by the frequent 
slight shocks of earthquake ; the absence of 
the latter is accounted for by the fact that 
the n|pan temperature, even in the summer solstice, 
is far from oppressive, and the people wish to enjoy 
all the sunshine possible. 

This coolness of climate is largely due to the 
strength of the breezes which, laden with ozone, 
pour through the Golden Gate for many hours 
each day. 

The noble harbor is part of a bay fifty miles long 
and five miles wide; the outlet, one mile wide, is 
called the Golden Gate, in memory of the time when 



On Blue Water. 17 

to cross its portal was, to many, the entrance to un- 
dreamt-of wealth. Upon the waters of this bay 
there is sea room sufficient to float the navies of 
the world. 

The first destination of our travelers was Hono- 
lulu, in the Hawaiian Islands, to reach which a 
Pacific Mail steamer, leaving once a month, was to 
be their conveyance. They had only a day to wait, 
yet in that brief space contrived to see not a little 
of the chief city of the Golden State. 

The far-famed Palace Hotel, the grotesque and 
ill-smelling Chinese quarter, the City Hall, and va- 
rious other public buildings and a climb up the fash- 
ionable Nob Hill, claimed a share of their attention. 

But the one thing that impressed itself on the 
memory of the boys was an afternoon ride in the 
park, which is laid out on a neck of land three to 
five miles wide, across which is a public drive to the 
sea-shore, where the Pacific rollers come thundering 
in to kiss the sands after their surging journey from 
the far-off coasts of China and Japan. 

Upon this magnificent promenade "all the world 
and his wife" may be seen any fine afternoon and 
evening. Here the 'Frisco merchant prince and 
millionaire rides along-side the rough miner come to 



18 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

town for a respite from toil in the bowels of the 
Sierra Nevadas. 

One curious and interesting feature of this remark- 
able drive is presented at its termination. About a 
thousand feet from the beach there rise out of the 
water two jagged rocks, perhaps seventy-five feet 
high, and showing a surface of about an acre each. 
These rocks are the feeding and breeding ground 
of an immense colony of seals, who enjoy absolute 
possession, their right of domain being protected 
by the State itself. They are of all sizes, from 
the tiny baby- seal to the long -tusked veteran of 
gigantic size. 

Their gambols and their battles are a source of 
never-failing interest to stranger and habitue alike, 
and it is doubtful if a similar scene so near to civil- 
ization can be witnessed anywhere else on the globe. 

At six o'clock on a cloudless morning in July our 
friends stood on the deck of the good steam-ship 
Panama, whose iron prow was headed for the blue 
waters of the Pacific. 

They had embarked the night before, sleeping on 
board. Besides themselves there were half a score 
of other passengers, six of whom were American 
planters and their wives returning co Honolulu, the 



On Blue Water. 



19 



remainder being bound, as was Mr. Elroy, on affairs 
of business. 

The trip down to the islands usually occupies eight 
or nine days. Once clear of San Francisco Bay the 




THE ENTRANCE TO THE GOLDEN GATE. 

steamer encountered a heavy ground-swell, with the 
result that, after struggling manfully against the 
power which sought to compel them to " turn their 
thoughts inward,' 1 George and Arthur succumbed to 



20 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

the spell of old Neptune, and retired to their 
cabin. 

The course of the steamer made the swell a beam 
one, and for the next two da} 7 s few passengers w T ere 
seen at table or on deck. On the morning of the 
third day, however, the heaving roll subsided, the 
Panama, rode on a comparatively even keel, and 
at breakfast-time the boys came to table with ap- 
petites of threefold intensity by reason of their 
lengthy fast. 

After the second day the voyager sails in summer 
seas, overhead a sky of sercnest blue, only matched 
by an ocean beneath of an equal depth of color. 
Fanned by balmy breezes of tropic sweetness, it was 
a luxury to lie on deck and idly watch the " white 
horses " go sweeping by. 

Coming on deck after a hearty meal, a cry of de- 
light broke from Arthur's lips. 

" So this is the Pacific ! " he exclaimed ; " what an 
appropriate name ! " 

All around, from horizon to horizon, the boundless 
ocean lay almost as smooth as any old mill-pond among 
the Massachusetts hills at home. Shoals of flying-fish 
made swift excursions in the balmy air ; flocks "of 
sea-birds circled lazily about the ship, and swarms of 



On Blue Water. 



21 



albicores swam sociably along-side. For one bird in 
the air there were surely a thousand fish in the sea. 

Both flying-fish and albicores have a ruthless en- 
emy in the sword-fish. Pursued by their foe the 
silver beauties sometimes fly a hundred and fifty 
feet before disappearing beneath the surface to 
moisten their wings. The piratical sword-fish often 
make a rush through the dense droves of defenseless 
albicores, and transfix two or three at a time on their 
long, projecting swords, off which the slain are then 
shaken to be devoured at leisure. 




THE DECK OF THE "PANAMA 



These generally peaceful seas are sometimes visited 
by severe gales having this peculiarity — that they 
rise, rage, and retire under a cloudless sky. While 



22 The Golden Gate to the Golden Hi 



orn. 



they l?4t the surges run "mountains high," and a 
"Pacif.3 sea" has passed into a by-word among 
sailor-n>en for severity. 

For a week it seemed as though the voyage was to 
be an entirely uneventful one. Not a ship had been 
seen blotting the horizon. .The same sunny sky, the 
same serene sea, greeted the eyes of our friends, until 
they almost wished for a gale, if only to break the 
monotony. 

The route to the Sandwich group from San Fran- 
cisco is one of the loneliest of ocean tracks. Few 
vessels are met with. Ships bound north and south 
up and down the coast of the neighboring continent 
keep far to the eastward, while craft sailing to and 
from Asia steer a more northerly course to catch 
more powerful breezes. 

A whaling bark came in sight one forenoon, and 
by midday she was made out to be hove to, with all 
her boats out engaged in chasing a school of whales. 

Arthur and George had speedily made friends 
with some of the steamer's crew, and all that after- 
noon was spent in listening to a description of whale 
catching as the men yarned over their tasks. 

Every whaler carries a barrel-shaped contrivance 
at the mast-head, called a crow's-nest, similar to those 



On Blue Water. 23 

used by explorers in polar regions to keep a lookout 
for paths through the ice, tenanted by a tarry, oily 
old salt, whose keen gray eye is strained with fixed 
attention on yonder streak of water, whence he ex- 
pects every moment to see a whale rise and spout. 

At last he spies the long-wished-for sign, and hails 
the deck with stentorian shout : 

" There she blows ! There she spouts ! " 

"Where away?" sharply cries the officer of the 
deck. 

" A school of 'em on the starboard bow ! " comes 
the reply out of the rigging. 

" Main-yard aback ! Out boats ! " 

" There she blows again ! " 

"How far off?" 

" Three miles, sir." 

" Be lively, men ! Lower away ! " 

" All clear, sir. Lower away it is ! " 

" Cast off ! — unhook ! — out oars ! — give way, 
men ! " 

And the light boat fairly bounds under the im- 
petus of eight stout arms. 

A whaler usually carries four or ^lyq swift boats, 
about twenty-five feet in length, built of light ma- 
terials, and shaped bow and stem alike, that they 



2 ± The Golden Gate to the Golden Hot 



n. 



may with greater ease be backed without the trouble 
of turning. They carry no rudder, but are steered 
with a long oar, which gives a far greater control 
over a boat than does a rudder. 

The rowlocks, in which the oars play, are muf- 
fled, in order to approach the gigantic prey without 
noise ; there are sockets in the floor of the boat to 
receive the oars when apeak. 

Once within fair striking distance, the barbed 
harpoon is hurled by the sinewy arm of the har- 
pooner in the bows, and plunged deep into the mon- 
ster's side. 

A second follows, and the wounded animal gives a 
convulsive plunge, and starts off along the surface at 
an astonishing speed, dragging the frail boat after 
him. 

The whale-line runs through a groove lined with 
lead, and is secured to the boat. The two hundred 
fathoms of line soon run out, for now the whale 
is sounding, or diving, deep below the surface ; 
but the practiced harpoon er has already bent on the 
end of a second line to the first. 

The monster reappears very soon, and the boat 
hauls gently along-side, the officer in command stand- 
ing ready to " lance " the prey on the first oppor- 



On Blue Water. 



25 



i tunity. Two lances are darted in quick succession, 
and in a few minutes the victim is in its deatli 
agony or flurry. 




HAKPOONIXG A "WHALE. 



The watchful crew back water to be beyond the 
reach of a chance blow from the tail or flukes of the 



26 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

expiring monster. He spins round and round, spout- 
ing his life-blood, and dyeing the sea crimson far and 
near. Now he turns over on one side, and the shouts 
from those in the boat proclaim to those on board 
the issue of the battle. Sometimes the whale sinks 
after dying, and is consequently lost to its captors. 

Frequently the whale makes a most determined 
resistance, and with every appearance of being actu- 
ated by revenge, as well as by the instinct of self- 
preservation, attempts to seize and destroy a boat 
with its jaws. 

In this it often succeeds. At other times it will 
sweep its tail rapidly through the air, and, bringing 
it down suddenly on a boat, cut it asunder, kill some 
of the crew, or hurl them, stunned and bleeding, to a 
great distance. 

Sometimes, instead of fleeing from his pursuers, as 
the Greenland whale almost invariably does, the mon- 
ster will boldly advance to the attack, rushing on the 
boats open-mouthed, and making every endeavor to 
crush or swamp its occupants. Often the whale, 
turning on its side or back, projects its long lower 
jaw over a boat, so that the terrified crew have no 
choice but to jump for their lives, oars in hand. 

The harpooner especially is liable to be entangled 




'J HE WHALE'S FLURRY. 



On Blue Water. 29 

in the coils of line as it runs out after the whale is 
struck, and to be dragged beneath the surface ; and 
notwithstanding that the line is immediately severed 
by his watchful companions, the poor fellow is fre- 
quently drowned. 

Yet more appalling is the calamity which oc- 
casionally befalls an entire boat's crew when the 
struck whale is sounding perpendicularly. It has 
happened repeatedly that the line has become foul of 
something in the boat so as to prevent its running 
out freely, and that in the twinkling of an eye, be- 
fore a prayer could be said or a look exchanged, boat, 
crew, and all have been dragged down into the 
depths of the ocean. 

It has occurred many times that those on board 
the ship have suddenly seen their boat disappear, 
pulled bodily down by a harpooned whale, not a ves- 
tige of boat or crew ever being seen again ! 

"While the boats are away engaged in the chase 
those left on board the ship are making ready to 
receive the capture. They have placed some short 
spars outside the vessel to facilitate operations, and 
have removed a dozen feet of the bulwarks, the ship 
being hove to. 

The dead whale floats buoyantly along-side the 



30 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

ship, where it is well secured, and a stage is slung 
over the vessel's side, from which the ship's officers 
overlook and direct operations. 

The blubber between the eye and the pectoral fin 
is first cut through with the spade, which is a trian- 
gular-shaped instrument, as sharp as a razor, and at- 
tached to a long handle. A man now gets upon the 
whale, his boots being spiked, to prevent slipping, I 
and fixes the hook of the tackle and falls to the 
blubber. The windlass is then manned, and lifts up 
the detached blubber, the spade cutting away, and 
the whale slowly turning over at the same time. 

The strip of blubber thus in course of preparation 
is about four feet broad, and is called a "blanket 
piece«" It is generally cut in a spiral direction, and 
lowered on deck when it reaches up to the head of 
the tackle. A fresh hold is then taken, and the oper- 
ation continued until the carcass is entirely " flensed," 
or stripped. The " case " is the cavity in the head 
containing the oil. If the whale is a small one the 
entire head is at once cut off and hoisted on deck ; 
but if a large one the important parts are secured 
separately. Lastly the skeleton is cut adrift, to float 
away or sink. The entire operation will occupy at 
least ten hours if the whale is very large. 



On Blue Water. 



31 




BAILING- THE " CASE. 



During this cutting up the ocean all around the 
ship is red with blood, and great flocks of petrels, 
albatrosses, etc., hover around to pick up the tempt- 
ing morsels. Shoals of sharks also attend the ban- 

t3 



32 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

quet, and so voracious are these creatures that the 
men frequently strike at them with their long-hand- 
led spades to prevent them from devouring the 
whale piecemeal ere it is abandoned to fish and fowl 
as legitimate prey. And although the whalers often 
kill two or three sharks upon such occasions, if a 
man slips from the carcass of a whale into the midst 
of these devourers they seldom or never attempt to 
injure him. 

Then comes the most disagreeable part of a whal- 
er's duty — " trying out " or boiling. The blubber is 
carefully separated from any scraps of flesh which 
may adhere to it, and these scraps form an admirable 
fuel for the furnace, emitting an intense heat. From 
the try-works the oil is conveyed to the coolers, and 
thence to the casks. In favorable weather the car- 
cass of a good-sized whale may be cut up and con- 
verted into oil in a couple of days. 

The spectacle of " trying out " on a dark night is 
an exceedingly impressive one. The ship is slowly 
sailing over the pathless ocean ; the furnace roaring 
and belching forth vast clouds of oily black smoke 
that drift slowly away to leeward. The lurid 
flames glare on the surrounding waves, producing 
fantastic shadows and shapes. The men are passing 



On Blue Water. 33 

busily to and fro, all grimy with the smoke and 
greasy with oil. What a picture a painter of genius 
might make of such a scene ! 

By the time this thrilling narrative, delivered 
piecemeal first by one sailor, then by another, was 
concluded, the whaler was miles astern and out of 
sight. But a pillar of black smoke blotching the blue 
horizon showed that her furnaces had been started. 

On the afternoon of the eighth day the passengers 
were scattered around the deck in various easy atti- 
tudes when the captain announced that early on the 
following day the snow-clad peaks of the island 
would heave in sight. A chart was spread out on 
the main sky-light, and Arthur and George derived 
immense satisfaction from seeing the position of the 
ship pricked out after the regular noonday observa- 
tion and reckoning had been made. 

" Father, suppose you tell us something about the 
Sandwich Islands," said George, after tea, as the two 
lads threw themselves on a coil of rope at their 
father's feet. 

" Well, my boy, I am no better off than you and 
Arthur in one respect, this being my first visit to this 
part of the globe. But, as you know, I have enjoyed 
acquaintance and correspondence with many residents, 



34 The Golden Gate to the Golden Hot 



n. 



so the islands are not entirely an unknown country 
to me. 

" As you are aware, the Hawaiian group contains 
in all eleven islands, and their total area is about six 
thousand square miles, nearly equal in size to the 
State of New Jersey. But Hawaii (pronounced 
hah-ivy'ee\ the largest, has alone an area of nearly 
four thousand square miles. Maui (pronounced mow'- 
ee), the next largest, has an area of six hundred and 
twenty; Oahu (pronounced war'hoo), live hundred 
and thirty ; and Atauai, or Kauai (pronounced ar- 
toiv-l), five hundred. The remaining ones, Lanai, 
Kahoolawe, Molokai, Niihau, Kaula, Lehua, and Mo- 
loldni, are mere islets. 

" The climate is much affected by locality, varying 
from cool, frosty weather on the uplands to tropic 
heat in the valleys. Sugar is the principal product, 
and although all the crops of semi-tropical and tem- 
perate climes can be grown, they are not profitable 
because of the lack of a sufficient market. 

" Hawaii and its sister islands were first made 
known to Europeans through Gaetano, a Spanish 
navigator, who touched there in 1542. Mendana, 
another Spaniard, determined their exact position in 
1567. But prior to these events it is thought that 



On Blue Water. 35 

some Spanish ships were wrecked on the rocky 
coasts, and that their crews married with the natives. 
Their descendants are known to this day by a lighter 
skin, and are called Kekea. 

" Captain Cook landed on the islands in 1778, and 
again in the year following. In the latter year, 
through his abuse of the lavish hospitality of the 
simple natives, he met his death in Kealakeakua 
(pronounced kay-ah-la-kay-ah-kooah) Bay, during a 
quarrel, on February 14. 

"Vancouver visited the group in 1790 and the 
two succeeding years, and in 1820 the first American 
missionaries arrived with their wives — seven souls in 
all— to whose heroic labors and the labors of their 
successors the great strides made by the Hawaiians 
in the arts of civilization are largely due. They re- 
duced the language to writing and adopted an alpha- 
bet of twelve letters, the first printing being done 
in 1822." 

"What kind of people are the Hawaiians, father?" 
inquired Arthur. " I heard one of the sailors call 
them ' niggers.' Are they really black ? " 

" Ah, my son," said Mr. Elroy, " you have touched 
upon one of the most knotty questions that ever 
puzzled an ethnologist. I am not able to pronounce 



36 The Golden Gate to the Golden Hot 



n. 



authoritatively upon it myself, but I can give you 
the two principal theories as to the origin of these 
islanders. 

" In the first place, they are not Negroes. One 
hypothesis places their origin to the eastward, and as- 
serts that the Hawaiians are a branch of the ancient 
Toltecs of Mexico. The other supposes the islands, 
as well as all the other Pacific archipelagoes, to have 
been peopled by successive migrations from Southern 
Asia, assuming the ancestors of the present Hawaii- 
ans to have been a part of the great Malay race. 
This latter theory is re-enforced by traditions among 
the islanders. 

" The group trends in a north-north-west direc- 
tion, and is entirely of volcanic origin." 

" O, father," interrupted Arthur, " are there really 
volcanoes ? " 

" Yes. Hawaii contains the largest active crater 
in the world — Kilauea (pronounced kee-low-ay'a), a 
part of the terrible Mauna Loa (pronounced mow'na 
lo'ah), thirteen thousand feet above the sea; and the 
island of Maui boasts the largest extinct crater in the 
world — Haleakala (pronounced hah-lay-a-kah-la'), 
ten thousand feet above the sea — a great circular 
chasm or pit, two thousand feet deep and ten miles 



On Blue Water. 37 

across. Indeed, every-where in the entire group 
extinct craters are to be seen." 

" Were the Sandwich Islanders savages when Eu- 
ropeans first discovered them ? " asked George. 

" ]S"o, not as we generally understand the term 
savage. They were, for instance, not nearly so rude 
as our North American Indians. They possessed a 
knowledge of many of the primitive arts; were then, 
as now, of a generally amiable disposition, but lived 
in a state of fearful moral degradation. Murder and 
theft were every-day crimes ; right and wrong had no 
place in their scanty code of morals ; and, of course, 
they knew nothing of Christianity or its blessed 
teaching. The system of the taboo* was the only 
religious or social observance rigidly followed. 

* The word taboo denotes a custom prevalent throughout Polynesia 
and as far south as New Zealand. The word has two meanings — a 
good and a bad. It may mean sacred, consecrated, holy, or accursed, 
abhorrent, unholy. No one unacquainted with the savage life of this 
part of the world can form any idea of the extent to which the taboo 
influences the every-day life of the people. In fact, it is often the 
sole religion, sometimes consisting equally of rules binding upon all 
and of arbitrary prohibitions imposed from time to time by priests or 
chiefs for the purpose of increasing their own importance. Thus, any 
house or piece of ground consecrated to a god is taboo, the inclosure 
forming a sanctuary to those accused of crime; to cross the path 
of a funeral procession is taboo ; to touch the person of a chief, or to 
eat in his presence, is taboo to those beneath him in rank. In the 



38 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

" But the indefatigable missionaries have changed 
all this. To day, I am told, even in Honolulu, the 
people never think of locking their doors, night nor 
day, and in no country in the world may the stranger 
travel in greater security. 

" Despite their moral degradation, the islands, 
when first they became known to the civilized world, 
supported an elaborate system of government, pre- 
sided over by five or six petty kings, similar to the 
feudal system in vogue in Europe in the Middle 
Ages. 

" In 1790 King Keoua, who ruled over a part of 
Hawaii, subdued all of the other kinglets, and laid 
the foundations of the present system of government. 
The Hawaiian Islands possess a liberal constitution, 
and a Parliament elected by the people, and consti- 
tute an entirely independent kingdom. The king 
has the right to name his successor, subject to con- 
firmation by the Upper House. If the king die 
without appointing an heir, in Parliament is vested 

Tonga Islands and in the Fijis the names of certain relatives must 
not be spoken by their kindred ; in other places it is taboo for a fattier 
to speak to his son after he has reached the age of fifteen. The taboo 
has to do with eating, sleeping, dressing, and cooking, and nothing is 
of too slight importance to be affected by it. From the cradle to the 
grave this strange system pursues this equally strange people. 



On Blue Water. 



39 



the right to elect a new monarch. The independ- 
ence of Hawaii has been recognized by all the great 
Powers. 

" Now, my lads, I guess you know as much of the 
Sandwich Islands as I do." 

Both the boys expressed themselves equally inter- 
ested in and duly grateful for Mr. Elroy's talk. 

By this time the decks were deserted save by the 
watch ; the stars shone luminously overhead, and pale 
flashes of phosphorescence swept past along-side. 
Every thing was wet with dew as the boys went 
below to dream of dusky islanders, tropic verdure, 
and yawning volcanic chasms. 




40 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn, 



CHAPTER III. 

HAWAII AND ITS LAKE OF FIRE. 

S may be supposed, the boys were 
on deck bright and early the next 
morning, and, sure enough, as the 
captain had predicted, about ten 
o'clock a dark smudge on the blue 
south-eastern horizon proclaimed the vicinity 
of the land. 

By degrees it rose above the sea, until at 
noon a long line of lofty volcanic cliffs came into 
view, whose bases were fringed with the frothy beat- 
ings of a magnificent surf. 

The route lay between the islands of Oahu and 
Molokai, and for a cou]3le of hours a "stern and 
rock-bound coast " was in full view. But upon turn- 
ing Diamond Head, which is really the crater of an 
extinct volcano, the leafy groves of Waikiki, nick- 
named by tourists "the Long Branch of Honolulu," 
broke on the astonished gaze of our travelers, and in 
less than an hour the great anchor was hoarsely 




Hawaii and its Lake of Fire. 



41 



dragging forty fathoms of chain through the iron 
hawse-pipes, and the Panama was hooked fast to 




" LAND HO 



the bottom of the tiny land-locked harbor of Hono- 
lulu. 

The town stands on the south coast of the island of 



42 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

Oahu, and is embowered in groves of palm, banana, 
tamarind, and cocoa-nut trees. Seen from the deck 
of a vessel, its full beauty does not at first impress 
the stranger ; the buildings are dwarfed by the sur- 
rounding foliage, yet the picture of low gray stone 
structures, half hidden in emerald foliage of tropic 
luxuriance, is one not soon to be forgotten. 

All around on the breeze-wrinkled waters of the 
bay was presented a lively scene. Three men-of-war 
— an American, a Frenchman, and an Englishman — 
were in port, besides a respectable fleet of whalers 
and merchantmen. Boats and native canoes were 
moving to and fro, the latter laden with fruit, aud 
steered by dusky figures in very scanty but very gay 
garments. 

George and Arthur were frantic to go ashore, and 
could scarcely contain themselves while the requisite 
formalities were gone through. At last a huge canoe 
came along-side ; trunks and valises were tossed over 
the bulwarks ; Mr. Elroy and his sons followed, and a 
few lusty strokes of the paddle brought them to the 
wharf. 

Here a scene at once strange and familiar broke 
upon them. A number of carriages of American 
manufacture stood on the pier, driven by ladies 



Hawaii and its Lake of Fire. 43 

attired in the identical fashions they had left behind 
at San Francisco, while the foreign side of the pict- 
ure was filled out by a native woman, clad in a loose 
brightly-colored garment reaching from neck to heels, 
unconfined at the waist, which Arthur called a night- 
gown, but for which the native name is holaku. 

Wonders increased at every step. They were 
quickly driven to an excellent hotel, substantially 
built of stone, and containing " all the modern im- 
provements " — gas, hot and cold water, and baths. 

It is related by the residents, with some pride, that 
to build this hostelry, which cost $120,000, a great 
part of the Hawaiian national debt was incurred — 
probably the only instance of the kind on record the 
world round. 

The boys, if not their father, had half expected to 
see an assemblage of native huts, or perhaps tents. 
Judge of their surprise at beholding a town with 
w T ide, shady streets, the houses built of stone and 
wood, and including government buildings, a par- 
liament house, a jail, handsome churches, schools, 
hospitals, and asylums ! 

After a bath and a hasty dinner, at which a num- 
ber of strange but extremely palatable dishes and 
fruits — boiled flying-fish, bread-fruit, custard-aj^ple, 



44: The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 



mango, alligator-pear, cocoa-nuts, rose-apple, and ohia 
— were set before them, Mr. Elroy was compelled 
to attend to some business connected with the un- 
loading of the machinery in the hold of the Pan- 
ama. But no such cares hampered George and 
Arthur; so, calling one of the light carriages, their I 
father placed them in the hands of the native driver, 
and sent them on a tour of the town. 

Although the hour was midday, within a few de- 
grees of the equator, and not far from the hottest 
time of year, the temperature was delightfully cool, 
the north-east trade-wind swept through the high 
tops of the trees, and every breath seemed laden 
with hidden perfume. 

" George," said Arthur, when the carriage halted 
on a hill, and all the town lay spread before them 
like a toy village, " I can't help the feeling that I 
have seen this before — of course, it's absurd — but the 
place seems as familiar as though I had been born 
here." 

" I know what it is," said George ; " it's the white 
houses and the green shutters. There's one over 
there," pointing to a residence standing in a little 
clearing on their left, " that looks exactly like 
Squire Dean's in old Everett." 



Hawaii and its Lake of Fire. 45 

j The boys were not the first to note this close re- 
ij semblance to New England scenery. Every Ameri- 
! | can sees it at once. 

This state of affairs is the work of the mission- 

i aries, many of whom came from New England. 

They have made the Hawaiian kingdom what it is, 

and in so doing have stamped it with the impress of 

their own early training and surroundings. 

The stone fences, the small pasture lots, the white 
wooden houses with green shutters, the gray vol- 
canic rock cropping out here and there, irresistibly 
remind the Yankee of the land of his birth. 

Upon their return to the hotel Mr. Elroy an- 
nounced that a steamer would leave Honolulu for 
Yokohama in three weeks, and he hoped to arrange 
his affairs in season to leave at that time. Business 
would necessarily engross much of his attention, yet 
he would be able to accompany George and Arthur 
to all the principal points of interest, and the inter- 
vals could be en joyably spent by the boys in short 
excursions nearer at hand. 

We cannot accompany our young friends on all 
their pleasant jaunts, or tell of their almost daily 
trips to "Waikiki for a surf -bath, of their visit to the 
leper settlement on Molokai, of the jolly rides to 



46 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

neighboring sugar plantations, or of their visit to the 
convict prison, from whence is gained a superb view 
of Honolulu, the surrounding country, and the blue 
Pacific. 

A volume would scarcely contain a complete 
chronicle of all they saw and accomplished, so we 
must fain content ourselves with a description of 
the more noteworthy scenes witnessed and sites 
visited. 

An excursion they will remember as long as they 
live was to the far-famed Mauna-Loa, on the island 
of Hawaii, justly entitled to rank as one of the nat- 
ural wonders of the globe. 

Though traces of former volcanic action are to be 
seen every-where in. the Sandwich Islands, Hawaii is 
now the only one on which there is an active burning 
mountain. 

From Honolulu the port of Hilo, in Hawaii, is 
reached by a weekly steamer. The voyage occupied 
little more than forty-eight hours, and soon after 
daylight one rainy morning our thoroughly drenched 
party of three were landed through the surf that 
thunders outside Hilo. 

It always rains at Hilo, say the islanders, and they 
have a joke there of a man who knocked the heads 



Hawaii and its Lake of Fire. 47 

out of an oil-cask, and placed it on its side, yet the 
rain ran in faster at the bunghole than it could run 
out at the ends ! 

But in the afternoon the semi-tropical sun broke 
through the clouds, and far above the town the giant 
crests of Mauna-Kea and Mauna-Loa could be plainly 
seen, towering fourteen thousand feet in the air, 
their verdure-clad lower slopes being scarred and 
seamed with deep canons, at the bottom of each of 
which a rushing river foamed and tumbled to the 
sea. 

A number of Americans live at Hilo, and in the 
hospitable residence of one of them Mr. Elroy and 
George and Arthur obtained a bath and a breakfast. 
Messengers were sent to apprise those at the 
" Half-way House " and at the " Volcano House " 
that a party might be expected on the morrow. 

Hilo is a pretty place, embowered in trees and 
flowers, and inhabited largely by natives, whose 
many-colored costumes harmonize delightfully with 
their surroundings. The houses are very neat, and 
each one nestles in a garden of its own. 

To thoroughly " do " the island and its craters re- 
quires at least a week, but this includes a visit to 
each of the eruptive mountains, and a ride of two or 



1 



48 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

three hundred miles in all. But time was something 
of an object, so Mr. Elroy proposed only to see Ivi- 
lauea (pronounced kee-low-ay'ah), taking the direct 
road to the crater from Hilo, thence descending to 
the sea-coast again at Kealakeakua Bay (the scene of 
Captain Cook's death), where a sugar schooner would 
take them back to Honolulu. 

Eight o'clock on the ensuing morning found the 
trio and a native guide all on horseback en route for 
Mauna-Loa, thirty miles away. Clad in rubber leg- 
gings and coats, they were ready to bid defiance to 
Jupiter Pluvius ; but shortly after leaving Hilo the 
sun sent slanting shafts of radiance through the mist, 
and thenceforth smiled on their way. 

The road lay for the most part over a bed of an- 
cient lava, and, by a gradual ascent, to a height of 
four thousand feet above the sea. The road was the 
worst imaginable — never more than a mere trail, and 
that full of holes and obstructed by jagged lava blocks, 
so the pace was restricted to a walk, and even then it 
seemed wonderful that the beasts kept their footing. 

But the exquisite scenery unfolded on every hand 
as the road led them up and up toward the clouds 
amply served to distract attention from the villainous 
road. Exclamations of wonder, delight, and awe 



Hawaii and its Lake of Fire. 49 

dropped incessantly from the lips of our boys, nor 
was Mr. Elroy a whit less enthusiastic. 

A ride of ten miles brought them to the " Half-way 
House," where dinner was waiting. Then to the sad- 
dle again. 

Higher and higher rose the road, wider and wider 
grew the prospect, until at last much of the island lay 
at their feet. Finally, near night-fall, after nine hours 
in the saddle, the Volcano House came in sight, and 
after a brisk canter of a mile the weary riders dis- 
mounted. 

The Volcano House, so-called, is little better than 
a board shanty, yet it afforded shelter from the ele- 
ments and a hearty meal — creature comforts not to be 
despised after a day on horseback. The house stands 
but a rod or two from the brink of the great crater, 
and all night long the ruddy glow of the burning 
lava rose and fell fitfully on the rude walls of the 
Volcano House. 

This sight, and the sense of nearness to one of 
earth's greatest wonders, served for a time to drive 
sleep from the eyes of George and Arthur ; but at 
length weariness prevailed over the novelty of their 
situation, and when they awoke the banners of day 
were abroad in the sky. 



50 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

The entire day was to be given to Kilauea, the 
tour of which is made on foot. From the threshold 
of the Volcano House they almost stepped into the 
crater. 

The great crater of Kilauea has a circumference of 
about nine miles. Picture a vast pit, a thousand feet 
deep, the walls of which are nearly perpendicular 
rocks, and the floor of which is composed of blocks 
of warm lava of all shapes and sizes, and flung about 
in unimaginable confusion. 

" Not many years ago," said Mr. Elroy, " the bot- 
tom of this pit was on a level with the top of the 
ridge from which we have just descended. But one 
day there came a mighty crash, and the whole dropped 
down a thousand feet, which one traveler, I remem- 
ber, has happily compared to a ' top-heavy and dried- 
out pie-crust fallen in at the middle, leaving a part of 
the circumference bent down, but clinging at the out- 
side to the dish.' " 

From the brink the descent is made by rough 
steps, and once arrived at the bottom the way lies 
for three miles over the cooled lava. From the in- 
numerable cracks and fissures sulphurous fumes of- 
fend the sense of smell, and the heat of the lava 
strikes through the thickest-soled shoes. 



: 



Hawaii and its Lake of Fire, 53 

At the distance of three miles from the Volcano 
House a steep bank of lava, rocks, and ashes rises 
before the visitor, which must be ascended. This is 
the rim of the now active crater, and the last barrier 
confining the subterranean fires and the flarning 
sea- of lava that surges and hisses within. • 

Both the boys expressed unbounded astonishment 
at so singular a formation rising out of the com- 
paratively level floor of the lava bed, and asked their 
father for an explanation. 

"Well, boys, it seems that since the sudden sink- 
ing of which I spoke the molten lava continually 
boils over, and, cooling on the edges, this rim became 
built up, thus continually augmenting the height 
of its own banks, for lava cools very quickly/' 

Toiling up the hilly declivity, a fearful and yet 
fascinating sight held all three breathless and spell- 
bound. Even the guide, to whom the scene was " an 
oft-told tale," was not proof against this sensation, 
but gazed as intently as any. 

Eighty feet below them were two huge lakes of 
seething, red-hot, smoking lava, whose ever-tossing 
and ever-restless surface sent up perpetual jets of slug- 
gish sulphurous vapor. A narrow ridge of cooled lava 
separated these burning caldrons, but the guide said 



54 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

this dividing ridge was frequently overflowed and 
melted, when for a time the two became one. 

" The awful grandeur of the scene 

Nor tongue nor pen can tell; 
These lurid, never-ceasing fires 

Are fitting types of hell. 
Tet glad we know a God to love, 
Still reigns supreme in heaven above ! " 

" Sometimes, I am told, the lava recedes to a depth 
of four or five hundred feet," said Mr. Elroy, " and 
at others rises to where we now stand, and deluges 
the old lava-bed." 

Around each pit the lowest shelf of rocks ap- ' 
peared to be red hot and full of caverns, while from j 
the edge some mighty but hidden force ceaselessly J 
propelled the fiery mass toward the center, where | 
ever and anon it rose in a towering mass from which 
protruded a tongue of flame twenty or thirty feet ( 
high. I 

Shifting their position somewhat they found that I 
the smaller of the two pits was even more violently | 
agitated. The same mysterious force propelled the ! 
molten lava in huge fiery billows against the oppo- 
site wall of rock, upon which they dashed with a [ 
deep sullen roar not unlike the voice of the ocean, \ 
but infinitely more terrible. From the whole there 



Hawaii and its Lake of Fire. 55 

i arose an almost insufferable stench, so that it was 
necessary to keep always on the windward side. 

Another curious sight were the lava cones — py- 
ramidal-shaped pipes, often a score of feet high. 
] These excited no little wonder among our party. 
On the bank on which they stood were several, and 
the guide thus explained their mode of formation : 

" When the surface of this lava is so rapidly cool- 
ing th^fc the action gojng on below is too weak to 
break it, the gases forcing their way out pierce small 
vents, through which lava is then ejected. This, 
cooling rapidly as it comes to the outer air, forms by 
its accretions a conical pipe, of greater or less circum- 
ference, open at the top." 

Here and there the whole of a cone had been 
blown away, leaving only a round hole at the base, 
through which it was possible to peep at the bubbling 
red-hot lava beneath. 

The hours of daylight passed only too rapidly, and, 

if possible, the view of the crater, when the shades 

of night had fallen, was even more awful than by 

I day. Where before only jets of smoke had been, 

were now a thousand forking flames leaping into 

view, until it seemed as though the whole mountain 

j must be undermined by fire. Our travelers returned 
4 



56 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

to the Volcano House with new and lasting impres- 
sions of the wonders of the Creator's handiwork. 

The journey to the coast began on the following 
morning, much as the entire party would have liked 
to prolong their stay on this wonderful island. Bat 
only four days remained in which to catch the 
steamer from Honolulu. 

At the village of Kauwaloa, on Kealakeakua Bay, 
they were fortunate enough to witness an exhibition 
of the dexterity of the natives at one of their ancient 
sports — that of the surf -board. In the Hawaiian 
Islands, and nowhere else, is this thrilling pastime to 
be seen to full advantage. 

The surf-board is a stout plank, about two feet 
wide and varying from eight to twenty feet in 
length. Only the most agile and powerful of the 
natives can engage in this play, and it requires great 
courage and strength. 

Plunging into the surf each man, armed with his 
board, makes his way through the breakers to the 
comparatively quiet water beyond, more than a mile 
from shore. Here he waits for his opportunity — a 
larger wave than ordinary, bound shoreward. When 
he sees it coming he kneels on his board with his 
back to the coming billow. 



Hawaii and its Lake of Fire. 



57 



Onward sweeps the great comber, which catches 

! the surf -board, and propels it at the speed of an 

| express train toward the beach. The velocity often 

equals a mile a minute, and by a clever leap the man 

clears the foam and leaps unharmed on the strand. 

Sometimes the giant billow tumbles the man and his 




THE SUBF-BOAED. 



board over and over like a piece of drift-wood ; but, 
nothing daunted, the bold swimmer makes his way 
seaward again and waits for another comber. 

Another famous native sport is called jparua. It 
is similar to the Canadian " tobogganing," but is en 
joyed on a grassy slope instead of on a snow slide 
The players stand erect on a short, narrow plank, 
curled up in front, and steered with a piece of tim- 
ber not unlike a cricket-bat. They proceed to the 



58 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

top of a long hill, and then the plank flies down 
the steep sun-dried grassy slopes at a terrific pace. 
Sometimes the board will jump small depressions 
twenty feet across without dislodging the rider. 

A visit to Kainbow r Falls was gotten up for our 
travelers' entertainment, there to witness the native 
gambols in the glassy pool below the cascade. The 
latter is a pretty double fall, the stream falling over 
two well-nigh perpendicular cliffs about a hundred 
feet in height into a deep "water-hole" beneath. It 
seemed as though half of Hilo were disporting them- 
selves in the water, while the other half looked on 
from the velvety banks. Some wonderful feats of 
diving were performed, the bathers, male and female, 
taking headers, somersaults, and plunges from the 
projecting rocks fully twenty-five feet in height. But 
all these feats were only to lead up to the grand 
event. On one side of the pool was a precipice fully 
one hundred feet high. Two natives were to jump 
from this, clearing in their fall a projecting spur jut- 
ting out some twenty feet from the face of the cliff. 
The men, stripped to the waist, appeared for a mo- 
ment at the brink, then disappeared for a run to 
gather momentum. In a few r moments one flashed 
into sight, bounded into mid-air, turned completely 



Hawaii and its LaTce of Fire. 59 

over, and fell like a plummet into the water. He 
emerged almost immediately, and walked up the bank 
as though nothing had happened out of the ordinary. 
His companion did likewise. 

As might be expected, the near vicinity of the 
scene of the death of the intrepid navigator, Captain 
Cook, awoke memories of his painful death. 

" There is a quite interesting history attached to 
the fate of Captain Cook," said Mr. Elroy. " It ap- 
pears that among the deities of the Hawaiians was 
one named Lono, the worship of whom was addressed 
to a long pole with the effigy of a human head at its 
upper end. The legend ran that Lono once resided 
on earth, and, departing from his faithful worshipers 
on a journey in a canoe, he told them he would come 
back in a winged canoe, and enjoined them to watch 
for his return. 

"When the islanders saw the English ship that 
bore Cook to their shores they concluded, from the 
white sails of the vessel, that their deity had fulfilled 
his promise. Though not of the same complexion, 
the commander was evidently a chief accustomed to 
be obeyed, and could be none other than Lono. Cap- 
tain Cook appears to have lent himself to the delu- 
sion. He knew the customs of the islanders of the 



60 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

Pacific, and soon perceived that the homage they 
rendered him was that usually paid to their gods. 
So, for purposes of his own, he allowed them to deck 
him out for worship, and accepted their sacrificial 
rites. And the natives further say that he permitted 
himself to be placed between two idols, and accepted 
the prayers addressed to the trio." 

" But," inquired George, " if they believed that 
Cook was their long-lost deity, how came they at last 
to kill him?" 

ki Ah, that is the strangest part of the story," said 
his father. "The natives say that his murder lias 
been regretted ever since, and they seem to think 
that Cook was mad at the time he lent himself to the 
imposture. We know that he had had a sun-stroke a 
short time before. The native account runs to the 
effect that Captain Cook, being in want of fire-wood, 
gave orders to his men to supply themselves by hack- 
ing away the sacred inclosure of their chief temple. 
Great indignation was excited at the sacrilegious act, 
and this deed it was that led to the first aggressive 
act on the part of the islanders. 

" One man, half skeptical as to the identity of the 
supposed Lono, struck Cook on the back of the neck 
with a club to test the question. The captain cried 



Hawaii and its Lake of Fire. 63 

out with the pain, and instantly the Hawaiian was 
convinced he was only mortal, since no god would 
feel a blow, and immediately he felled him to the 
earth with a mortal wound." 

The schooner that bore our party back to Hono- 
lulu, fanned by the steady trade- wind, made the trip 
in a little more than twenty-four hours. 

After a brief delay, chiefly occupied in saying 
good-bye to their many kind friends, they took pas- 
sage on the steamer Golden Gate, en route for Yoko- 
hama, and soon the rugged peaks of the Hawaiian 
Islands were fast fading from sight astern. 




64 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn* 



CHAPTEK IV. 

FKOM OAHU TO NIPHON. 

IE Golden Gate left Honolulu 
on a Friday morning. That 
day and the next were devoid 
of any notable event. But on 
Saturday Mr. Elroy and his sons 
enjoyed the novel experience, attainable 
only at the cost of crossing the Pacific, of 
going to bed on Saturday night and, with- 
out sleeping more than the usual time, 
awaking on Monday morning. So that for them 
and all on board there was no Sunday that week. 

This may appear strange to my readers, but not 
more so than it was to George and Arthur. Great 
was their mystification when, on coming to breakfast 
on Monday morning, Mr. Elroy said, in a quizzical 
tone, and with mock solicitude : 

"Well, my sons, we all hope you have enjoyed 
your long sleep. Are you sure you are thoroughly 
rested?" 




From Oahu to JViphon. 65 

"I didn't know we were late, father; are we?" 
said George. 

" No, I cannot say you are late. But considering 
that you went to bed on Saturday night, and that 
this is Monday morning, don't you think you have 
wooed the drowsy god a little too assiduously ? " 

" I am sure you are laughing at us, sir," said Ar- 
thur, u but I don't see why. This is Sunday morn- 
ing, is it not, captain ? " 

" No, my lad, your father is right. This is Mon- 
day morning." 

At this rejoinder the look of blank amazement on 
the faces of both lads was so comical that every one 
at the table burst out laughing. Arthur rubbed his 
eyes and pinched himself to be sure that he really 
was not dreaming. 

In the midst of the merriment Captain Carter left 
his seat and came back, bearing a thin black leather- 
bound book. Opening it at a certain page, he 
pointed to the last entry, the ink of which was scarce- 
ly dry, and desired George to read it aloud. This is 
what was written : 

" Monday, August — , being westward bound, and 
having on Saturday, the — th, passed the prime me- 
ridian, 180 degrees west of Greenwich, Sunday, the 



66 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

— th, is omitted, it becoming the day and date imme- 
diately ensuing, as above noted." 

Upon every vessel that crosses the Pacific from 
east to west some such entry as this is made in the 
ship's log-book when she crosses a certain meridian 
north or south of the equator. 

"When he had finished reading Arthur looked at 
George and George looked at Arthur. The mystery 
was as much a mystery as ever. 

K So you don't believe it yet," said Mr. Elroy, 
jocularly. 

" Yes, we believe it, but we don't understand it," 
replied George. " I'm sure there's a trick some- 
where." 

" !No, my lads, there's no trick," said Captain Car- 
ter, putting the book away in his desk. " But come 
on deck, and I'll try to make it plain to you. 'Tis 
simple enough. 

" If we suppose that a man could travel round the 
world in twenty-four hours with the sun, it will be 
evident that he would experience no night — per- 
petual day would attend him. But in a more leis- 
urely progress westward the close of each day's jour- 
ney finds the traveler a little behind the sun in point 
of time, and in making the entire circuit of the earth 



From Oahu to Niphon. 67 

the aggregate of all these laggings amounts to an en- 
tire day." 

" But," said Arthur, " why drop or add a day any- 
where on a trip around the world ? " 

" That his reckoning may correspond with the 
calendar in vogue at his point of departure and at 
his destination, he must somewhere on the journey 
omit twenty-four hours in order that he may catch 
up with the sun. As a matter of fact this day is not 
lost to him, for he has consumed the time by adding 
a few minutes to each day in his flight westward. 

" When sailing eastward the reverse process takes 
place. The traveler, so to speak, picks up the day 
dropped when passing westward, because he is con- 
stantly gaining on the sun, which rises one hour ear- 
lier every day for every fifteen degrees of longitude 
east of a given place. 

" So, on reaching the same spot, the 180th merid- 
ian from Greenwich, the voyager enjoys two Mon- 
days or two Thursdays, as the case may be ; and you 
both remember how the hero of Jules Yerne's fa- 
mous romance, i Around the World in Eighty Days, ' 
won his w T ager, because he had forgotten to add this 
day to his reckoning when journeying eastward. 

"As regards the time of sunrise and sunset," 



68 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

continued Captain Carter, " there is a difference of one 
hour for every fifteen degrees of longitude, as I said. 
That is to say, sunrise at a place fifteen degrees west 
of New York happens one hour later, and at a place 
fifteen degrees east one hour earlier." 

." Would not any other place serve as well at which 
to make this change of reckoning?" inquired Mr. 
Elroy, who had been an interested listener. 

"Well," answered Captain Carter, "the 180th 
meridian is the best place to make this break in the 
calendar. Any spot on the earth's surface generally 
agreed on by civilized peoples would answer equally 
well, were it not for the confusion that would inevi- 
tably occur should a meridian be chosen near or upon 
which large centers of population are situated. So, 
to avoid all annoyance of this sort, English and 
American navigators, the greatest of all travelers, 
fixed on the 180th degree of longitude west of 
Greenwich as the best locality for the purpose, be- 
cause throughout its entire length it crosses no land 
save a few thinly peopled islands." 

"I once witnessed a curious ceremony," said one 
of the passengers, who had been an interested list- 
ener, " at the time of dropping a day from the cal- 
endar. The crew made up a mysterious package, 



From Oohit to Niphon. 69 

which was very carefully brought on deck, placed in 
a conspicuous place, and at the hour of noon, when 
the officer of the deck had made out the ship's posi- 
tion by the usual observations, the box was tilted 
overboard, and sank slowly out of sight astern, 
freighted, according to a pleasant fiction, with the 
lost day." 

" I am reminded," said Mr. Elroy, when the pas- 
senger had ceased speaking, " that there is a curious 
state of affairs existing in two groups of islands in 
the Pacific, which arose from a disregard of this 
rule. In the Sandwich Islands and the Society Isl- 
ands, only a few degrees of longitude distant from 
each other, the inhabitants observe different days as 
the Sabbath. 

" The missionaries who carried the Christian relig- 
ion to these isolated places started from different 
sides of the globe and met in mid-ocean ; those to 
the Sandwich group going westward from the United 
States around Cape Horn, taking with them the ob- 
servance of Sunday according to the American al- 
manac, and the missionaries to the Society group sail- 
ing from England around the Cape of Good Hope 
and crossing the 180th meridian, and observing the 
Sundays as they came round in orthodox fashion. 



70 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

" The English party should have added a day to 
their reckoning, but they neglected to do so, and, of 
course, were a day behind their fellow missionaries 
and the true date." 

The sight of a wreck at sea in calm weather is a 
reminder that " winds do roar and waves do rage." 
One morning a sailor, engaged in some job aloft, 
hailed the deck with a lusty cry of " Sail ho ! " indi- 
cating at the same time a point off the weather bow 
of the steamer. A glass was at once directed to the 
spot, and sure enough, there swung into the field the 
black hull of a powerful sailing vessel, of some 
three thousand tons' burden, rising and falling slowly 
on the long surges, but with only her lower masts 
standing. All forward there hung a confused tan- 
gle of spars and cordage, about which a score of sea- 
men were actively engaged in making things ship- 
shape. Soon the tiny signals of Marryat's Code were 
fluttering from the halliards of the steamer and the 
crippled ship, from which it was learned that she was 
the JIatteras, of New York, bound for Shanghai, and 
that she had been dismasted in a gale two days be- 
fore. No injury had been suffered in her hull, and 
as her captain declined all assistance, the Golden Gate 
went on her way with a whistle salute to the plucky 



From Oahu to Nijphon. 



n 



fellows who were determined to carry their crippled 
craft into port. 

After nearly two weeks' sailing over summer seas 
(for the Golden Gate was not one of our modern 




THE DISMASTED " HATTERAS.' 



greyhounds), it became noised through the ship that 
land might shortly be looked for. 

Accordingly, about one o'clock on a glorious after- 
noon, what seemed to be a tiny pearl-colored cloud 
on the western horizon was pointed out by one of the 
ship's officers, and declared to be the summit of Ja- 
pan's sacred mountain of fire, Fusiyama. Though 
not an active volcano, it fills a foremost place in the 



72 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

coast scenery, and in very clear weather may be seen 
nearly a hundred miles at sea. On the occasion of 
which we write it was distant about sixty miles. 

Long before sunset the emerald green shores of 
Japan were in full view. The verdure-clad and tem- 
ple-crowned hills formed a pleasing contrast to the 
first view of the Hawaiian group. As they steamed 
rapidly up the Gulf of Yedo the scene was one of 
extreme beauty and no little animation. Its very 
strangeness formed for our boys its chief element of 
interest. Junks, native boats, and numbers of other 
outlandish craft swarmed around and attended the 
steamer to her anchorage, till it seemed as though a 
collision could only be escaped by a miracle. 

Just after sunset the firing of a gun and the plash 
of the heavy anchor announced that the voyage of 
the Golden Gate had ended. The shores on either 
hand were most picturesque, and utterly unlike any 
thing anywhere else in the world — small, symmetrical 
hills, of perfect shape, clothed to their summits with 
the dark-leaved cryptomeria, and with toy-like houses, 
temples, and villages, nestling in the tiny hollows 
between, the whole looking exactly like the repro- 
ductions of Japanese scenery one sees in the few 
pictures thereof that reach America. 



From Oahu to Nijphon. 



73 



It was useless to think of landing that evening, so, 
in full view of the twinkling lights on shore, and in 
hearing of numerous strange sounds borne across the 
water to their ears, our travelers sat chatting on deck 
till far into the night. 

5 




n 



The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 



CHAPTER Y. 



" THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN.' 




>REAKFAST over, next morn- 
ing, a queer-shaped native boat 
came along-side, into which our 
travelers' luggage was bundled. 
Mr. Elroy, George, and Arthur 
went over the steamer's side into another, 
and each boat, propelled by four lusty, 
nearly naked, coolies, to the accompani- 
ment of grunts and yells, and much splash- 
ing, made for the bund or quay. 

Here the formality of passing the custom-house 
was gone through under the eye of a native gentle- 
man in Occidental attire, who made a cursory exam- 
ination, and then signified by a bow that all was 
right. 

A score of coolies stood around, waiting for this 
formality to be finished. At its conclusion they si- 
lently divided themselves into two squads, and pre- 
pared to draw lots to see who should have the honor 



" The Land of the Rising Sun" 75 

of conveying the travelers' trunks and portmanteaus 
to their hotel. As many straws as there were coolies 
were intricately wound together, and at a signal all 
raised their hands. Three of the straws were then 
seen to be linked together, and the three coolies who 
held these straws were the successful competitors. 
They gravely saluted our party, silently picked up 
the various pieces, while the unsuccessful ones as si- 
lently stole away. The boys could not help recalling 
the vastly different manner in which their trunks 
had been fought for more than once in civilized 
America. 

The portion of Yokohama where they had landed 
was a comparatively newly built part of the city, and 
inhabited chiefly by foreigners. 

A street of noble width runs for a mile along the 
water front, the shore side of which is occupied by 
the bungalows of European and American merchants. 
Exquisite gardens are at the side and rear of some of 
these houses, in which trees and shrubbery, strange 
to American eyes thrive luxuriantly. 

Yokohama is the residence of the foreign ministers 
accredited to Japan by other governments, and is the 
foreign port for Tokio, as well as the chief foreign 
port of the Japanese Empire. In fact, Yokohama is 



76 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

not a Japanese city at all — its buildings, its streets, 
its customs, and its people give it the aspect of a 
city of the Western world. 

Tokio is the residence of the imperial family and 
the meeting-place of the national legislature. It is 
now an open port, but as it lies twenty miles farther 
inland than Yokohama, the latter receives all the for- 
eign travel and traffic. 

While the patient coolies trotted ahead with their 
burdens our friends followed more leisurely on foot 
along the main street before mentioned. It seemed 
as though every nationality under heaven congre- 
gated on this thoroughfare — Germans, Americans, 
Frenchmen, Englishmen, East Indians, Chinese, Ma- 
lays, and Xegroes. But the boys soon noticed that 
the men of Anglo-Saxon race jDredominated. 

They were bound for the house of a merchant 
to whom a large consignment of American tools and 
farming implements had been sent some months pre- 
viously by Mr. Elroy's firm. On his learning that 
they proposed to remain at Yokohama over one 
steamer, in order that they might see something of 
the country, he generously insisted that they should 
make his residence their head-quarters, and forth- 
with Arthur and George found themselves ensconced 



" The Land of the Rising Sun? 77 

in a breezy chamber facing the Bay of Yedo, while 
all the life and color of the river street moved to 
and fro like a panorama beneath their windows. 

After dinner the boys spent the remaining hours 
of daylight in roaming about the city, devouring its 
strange sights. Perhaps the one thing that impressed 
them most was the vast number of uses to which the 
natives put the bamboo. 

George referred to this, on returning to the house, 
when asked by Mr. Stewart, their kind host, about 
their afternoon's perambulations. 

" You are not the first foreigners who have made 
the same observation," said he. " Why, there is no 
product of nature in all the world — mineral or veg- 
etable — that is put to more uses than the bamboo. 
It furnishes food, shelter, and clothes. Houses and 
the furniture they contain are made entirely of bam- 
boo, not a nail being used in their construction. Its 
roots are made into preserves, and the young and 
succulent shoots are boiled and eaten. Every variety 
of household utensils — pails, brooms, brushes, meas- 
ures, boxes, and tools are made of bamboo. Um- 
brellas, hats, paper, books and pens, musical instru- 
ments and ornaments, chopsticks and plates — come 
from it. Boats are built of the larger trees, and 



78 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

their sails, masts, rigging, and cordage are derived 
entirely from the bamboo. I doubt if you cau name 
any article in common use in this country into the 
manufacture of which the bamboo does not enter." 

" Mr. Stewart, are there no wagons or carriages in 
Japan?" inquired Arthur. "I looked in vain for 
one this afternoon." 

"No, my lad — at least not as you would under- 
stand the term. The coolies use a light two-wheeled 
cart ; but our roads are, with one noble exception, too 
narrow for large wheeled vehicles to pass abreast." 

"We saw the funniest thing," said George — "not 
much larger than a good-sized baby carriage — and 
the man in it, who had long legs, had to sit with his 
knees nearly touching his chin." 

" Ah, we pride ourselves on those. They are our 
1 Pullman ' coaches," said Mr. Stewart, laughing. 
" The native name for your * baby carriage ' is jin- 
rikisha, which means a ' man-carriage.' As they are 
usually pushed or pulled by a native man, we Amer- 
icans dub them our pull-man carriages. See ? " 

" O, yes ! " exclaimed both boys at once, and each 
resolved that before he was many hours older a ride 
in this Oriental Pullman car should be added to his 
experience. 



" The Land of the Rising Sun" 



79 



" You will soon learn," continued their host, " that 
the jinrikisha is the principal mode of conveyance 
on these islands. They are built to seat one or two 
persons, and your comparing them to a two-wheeled 
baby carriage with shafts is not at all inapt. 



-m£K 




A BIDE IN A JINRIKISHA. 



" The endurance of the rikisha men is something 
wonderful. They will trot for miles about the city 
or through the country without for an instant slack- 
ening their pace. Their excellent training and con- 
stant muscular exercise is shown in the well-rounded 
muscles of their legs and arms. The fare for each 
passenger is only about ten cents an hour, and on a 



80 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

level road the men will take you from eight to ten 
miles in an hour." 

" I think that is something better than a street 
car," remarked Arthur ; " but I suppose in time we 
shall be sending you a horse-railroad, fully equipped 
with drivers, conductors, bells on the horses, and fare 
indicators or punches." * 

Mr. Stewart thought it was not at all unlikely. 

At all times Yokohama is a place of bustling ac- 
tivity, and on the arrival or departure of a steamer 
the merchants are much driven by the necessity of 
attending to their mails. Mr. Stewart was at this 
juncture " up to his eyes in business," as he ex- 
pressed it ; but in a day or two he hoped to find 
leisure to show his friends some of the sights of the 
islands. 

The first of these excursions was to the statue of 
Daiboots, and to the ruined city of Kamakura, hard 
by, some twenty miles outside of Yokohama. 

The route lay through a lovely country, diversified 
by well- wooded hills and fruitful, well-cultivated val- 
leys. Japanese ponies were to carry our party the 
entire journey of some twenty miles, though the 
boys would have much preferred the jinrikisha. 

* This has since become an accomplished fact. 



" The Land of the Rising Sun" 8 J 

On a beautiful summer morning the little cava! 
cade set out, attended by a bettoe, or footman, for 
each pftny and rider. In riding or driving in Japan 
the bettoes run by the animal's head, chiefly to guide 
the somewhat refractory beasts around corners or 
over rough places, Japanese horses having little re- 
gard for the bit, and being peculiarly averse to turn- 
ing corners. Every one who keeps horses in Japan 
keeps also a bettoe. These coolies are as fleet of foot 
as the animals, and will travel as far in a day with 
fewer signs of fatigue. They are unencumbered 
with clothes, save a strip of linen around the waist, 
but are usually tattooed in a variety of grotesque 
patterns. The effect of the latter, seen at a little dis- 
tance, is that of a very close-fitting garment. 

A small American buggy led the way, driven by 
Mr. Stewart, and in which were seated two of the 
ladies of his family. 

Some time was lost through the vicious antics of 
the native ponies, who pranced and bit and kicked — 
in fact, played every prank imaginable for a horse — 
before they could be persuaded to turn their noses in 
the direction desired. 

At length a straggling start was effected. The 
road wound gently upward through fields of waving 



82 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

rice. Scarcely an inch of ground seemed wasted. 
The tall grain stalks formed a margin to the road on 
either hand, and the slender fences of bamboo divid- 
ing field from field were not to be discerned from a 
distance. Hence the prospect presented was that of 
an undulating sea of verdure. 

The screens of the houses they passed were all 
thrown back to admit the morning air, and thus an 
unobstructed view of their interior mysteries was 
afforded to all who cared to look in. This is the 
prevailing custom, no matter how cold the weather. 

From time to time they met persons on the road — 
peasants, generally — who invariably saluted with a 
pleasant smile, and by saying what sounded exactly 
like " How are you ? " To which the boys felt in 
duty bound to reply by some such phrase as, " Very 
well, I thank you." 

At length, determined to seek an explanation of 
this seemingly strange trait, George and Arthur sig- 
nified to the coolies that they wished to speak to Mr. 
Stewart, whose buggy led the procession. The ponies 
were urged to a quick trot, and soon they were along- 
side the carriage. 

" Mr. Stewart," began Arthur, " I didn't know the 
Japanese could speak English." 



" The Land of the Rising Sun." 83 

" Neither did I, my boy — that is, hereabouts," was 
the reply. 

" But they have been saying to us, ' How are 
you % ' ever since w T e left the city," said George. 

" And what did you reply, may I ask % " said Mr. 
Stewart, his eyes twinkling. 

" O, we said ' Pretty well, thank you,' of course," 
said Arthur. 

The occupants of the carriage laughed heartily at 
this. u What they said w r as O-ha-yo — Good-morn- 
ing," said Mr. Stewart, and the mystery was solved. 

George and Arthur, however, when they came to 
another village, aud were greeted with the universal 
O-ha-yo, responded simply by a wave of the hand. 

About midway a halt was made at a tea-house, 
where tiffin was ordered. Tiffin is a name common 
throughout the East for lunch — a light meal partaken 
of during the heat of the day betw T een breakfast 
and dinner. They wxre welcomed by a pleasant- 
faced woman, who received them at the door, and 
insisted on their removing their boots or shoes before 
entering, lest her spotless mats should be soiled. It 
being summer-time this w r as not a hardship ; but in 
winter-time it would appear to be very distasteful to 
foreigners. Here they were served, in an incredibly 



84: The Golden Gate to the Golden- Horn. 

short space of time, with some delicious fish newly 
caught from a pond near by, a variety of sweetmeats, 
and the national beverage — tea. 

This latter was a very different article from that 
our party had been accustomed to at home. There, 
milked and sweetened, its grateful aroma was a thing 
to be remembered. But here, in the home of the 
tea-plant, the simple infusion of tea-leaves set before 
them, without milk or sugar, and .with hardly any 
taste, was a genuine surprise. 

Three hours from Yokohama, and our party arrived 
on the site of the ancient capital, Kamakura ; where 
once stood a city noted for its magnificence in native 
annals is now nothing but a plowed field. All that 
remains of its former grandeur is a group of Bud- 
dhist temples crowded with relics of dead and gone 
dynasties of the Tycoons. The natives say that 
every thing else was destroyed in a war two thou- 
sand years ago. As Japanese cities are built entirely 
of perishable wood, it is not to be wondered at that 
in time they should crumble to dust, and leave no 
trace behind. 

A faint idea of its former magnificence may be 
gained by a single avenue which now remains. It is 
two miles long, nearly two hundred feet wide, and 



" The Land of the Rising Sun" 



85 



runs down to the sea-shore from what was once the 
heart of the city. Tradition says that this avenue 
was formerly lined with temples and palaces. 

Two miles from Kamakura is the colossal statue 
of the god Buddha, commonly known as the statue 




AUCIEXT IMPERIAL PALACE. 



of Daiboots. It stands in solitary grandeur among 
wooded hills, and is approached by a flight of massive 
steps. A lofty temple once covered it, but this has 
long since perished, and now the majestic figure is 
exposed to the storms of heaven, 



86 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

According to the most trustworthy data this statue 
of Daiboots was erected about six hundred years ago, 
but the natives claim for it a much greater age. It 
is in a sitting posture, over forty feet high, and is 
constructed entirely of bronze. The face of the figure 
is expressive of earnest meditation, which embodies 
the popular idea of Buddha. The workmanship dis- 
played is wonderful. Not a seam nor a joint can be 
seen in the plates of bronze forming the surface, and 
it is, apparently, as fresh and uninjured as when first 
erected. When we remember the remote age in 
which it must have been erected, it proves that even 
then its builders must have been a people far ad- 
vanced in art. It is possible for a man to sit on the 
statue's thumb, and there is a chamber in the hollow 
interior where the priests celebrate certain rites. 

"This statue," said Mr. Stewart, as our party stood 
in silence before it, " is by travelers accounted the 
greatest curiosity in Japan. Even the name of ks 
builder has been forgotten, and nothing is known of 
it save that it has stood in this solitary spot for centu- 
ries after having been once surrounded by the clamor 
and bustle and magnificence of a gi\at city," 

The quiet majesty of the silent figure impressed 
every heart, and indicated a reason why, perhaps, the 



" The Land of the Rising $im" 87 

poorer people cling so tenaciously to the Buddhist 
creed. 

" What a pity," said Mr. Elroy, " that so much 
labor and ingenuity should have been lavished on a 
mere idol ! " 

"Very true," replied Mr. Stewart. "But our noble 
missionaries are going to change all that. Through 
their indefatigable efforts the Japanese are fast learn- 
ing the way to the one true God of the universe and 
his Christ ; and before many years we may hope that 
these temples and idols will only represent a former 
age of darkness." 

" Amen ! " said Mr. Elroy. 

Almost with reluctance our friends turned their 
horses' heads homeward, and it was long past sunset 
when their hoofs clattered on the pavement of the 
streets of Yokohama. 

There are many other pleasant excursions to be 
made around Yokohama. In every direction the 
country presents the same scenes of quiet, fruitful 
beauty. On every hand one sees the fertile valleys 
running into the clefts of the hills, while here and 
there tiny villages give life to the picture. 

But to visit Japan without seeing Tokio would be 
-like going to New York and not seeing the Great 



88 



The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 



Bridge ; so it was planned that at an early day a start 
should be made for the capital. 

However, the description of this trip, with its mul- 
tifarious sights and the curious manners and customs 
of the people, deserves a chapter to itself. 




Tokio and an EarthqyiaTce. 89 



CHAPTER VI. 

TOKIO AND AN EARTHQUAKE. 

*RIOR to the year 1868 the cap- 
ital of the Japanese Empire, now 
; named Tokio, was called Yedo. 
It is located in the eastern part 
of the main island, Hondo, and at the 
head of the Gulf of Yedo, twenty miles 
above Yokohama. It lies on both banks 
of the Ogava River. 

The natives will gravely tell a traveler 
that Tokio is the most populous city in the world. 
Of course this is incorrect ; but the fact remains that 
in area Tokio exceeds any European or American 
capital, covering sixty square miles of surface. In 
reality, however, a large proportion of this space is 
occupied by gardens, temples, sacred groves, etc., 
while the built-up portion only covers an area of about 
thirty square miles, much of which again is occupied 
by canals and moats. Tokio is divided into three 

portions. Siro is the royal inclosure, where are 
6 




90 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

the citadel and the imperial residences ; Soto-Siro, 
literally, "without the citadel;" and Midzi, "outer 
parts," all three of which are divided from each 
other by stone walls and a moat. Around the whole 
is a system of strong defenses. 

Until within twenty years the Midzi consisted in 
the main of the abodes of the daimios and court offi- 
cials, but now these have given place to a grand array 
of modern buildings — colleges, arsenals, government 
offices, factories, and foundries. 

These three districts may be said to comprise Tokio 
proper. But outside these, for miles in either direc- 
tion, stretch noble streets of brick and stone struct- 
ures, mostly of European styles of architecture, all of 
which have been erected since Japan took her place 
in the ranks of modern nations. The streets of the 
modern Tokio are wide, regular, and clean ; the sup- 
ply of water is obtained from the Tonegawa Kiver, 
nine miles distant, and is of excellent quality. There 
is an excellent police system ; the city is well lighted, 
and is connected with Yokohama and the principal 
commercial points by telegraph.* 

All of these improvements date from 1868, the 

* A railroad now connects Tokio with Yokohama and other cities. 
— Author. 



Tokio and an Earthquake. 91 

time when Tokio became the seat of the government, 
the place of residence of the foreign ministers, and 
an important center of foreign trade. 

There were two modes of reaching the capital from 
Yokohama. One route runs over the Tokaida, or 
imperial highway, the only road in Japan over which 
carriages can travel. This great highway extends 
three hundred miles, from one end of Honda to the 
other, and intersects the capital. There is, proba- 
bly, no other like it in the world, and the length of 
twenty- two miles between Yokohama and Tokio is 
lined with little bazars, so that the entire ride is 
through a succession of shops full of the most beau- 
tiful wares, useful and ornamental. 

But as our travelers had seen short portions of the 
Tokaida in their previous excursions around Yoko- 
hama, and as they were tired of riding on ponyback, 
in carriages, and in the jinrikisha, it was unanimously 
decided to go to Tokio by boat, and the trip up the 
picturesque Gulf of Yedo consumed the greater part 
of the day. 

It is a curious fact that hostility to foreigners 
among the Japanese is much more marked in the 
cities than in the country. Not many years ago it 
was considered extremely dangerous for " the foreign 



92 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

devils" to appear at the capital, and the YaJconins, 
the adherents, or fighting men, of the powerful dai- 
mios, kept alive this feeling of enmity, not unfre- 
quently taking the lead in attacks upon travelers. 
Armed with two swords, a long and a short one, they 
are nicknamed the two-sworded men, and are really 
formidable opponents. But happily this feeling of 
hostility is rapidly dying out, since the Japanese see 
that nothing but good can come to their nation 
through intercourse with Western people. 

On reaching the city, the river front of which was 
crowded with native boats of all shapes and sizes, our 
party was driven to a fine hotel, where every comfort 
to which they had been accustomed at home was at 
their service. This hostelry, with its extensive gar- 
dens, covers nearly four acres of ground, and is situ- 
ated almost on the shore of the bay. Its broad piazzas 
afford a magnificent prospect of the city, and the view 
of the countless temples, towering high above the 
surrounding houses, redoubled the boys' anxiety to be 
exploring their wonders and mysteries. 

But by the time the evening meal had been dis- 
posed of the sun was just setting, and in a few 
moments a clashing of gongs from a hundred towers 
proclaimed that night had come and that the city and 



Tokio and an Earthquake 93 

temple gates were shut. So for that night at least 
they were forced to content themselves with the view 
of the city afforded from the hotel balconies. Here 
they sat chatting for an hour or two, and George and 
Arthur learned much about the strange land from 
their friend, Mr. Stewart. 

" Boys," said that gentleman, " you remember the 
story of the Yankee showman who advertised that he 
had a horse with his head where his heels ought to 
be? Well, I strongly suspect that he learned that 
trick from the Japs, for here they uniformly tether 
their horses with their heads toward the front of the 
8tall. ,, 

George and Arthur rather thought, after what they 
had seen of the kicking propensities of the native 
animals, that it was a very wise arrangement. 

" Further," said Mr. Stewart, " their carpenters 
draw the plane toward them, instead of pushing it, 
as do ours, and the same with the saw, the teeth of 
the latter being set the contrary way." 

" When we landed for dinner to-day I noticed 
about thirty coins on a row of nails over the door of 
the shop. What was that for ? " inquired Arthur. 

" O, that's the way we treat our beggars and save 
ourselves trouble. We put the coins there to avoid 



94 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

the annoyance of answering every call; the mendi- 
cant comes along, helps himself to a coin, and passes 
on." 

" But I should think some of them would not be 
content with taking only one," said George. 

"I never heard of such a greedy act," said Mr. 
Stewart, "and I doubt if a Japanese beggar would 
so abuse the charity of his benefactors. But not the 
least of the curiosities in Japan, as you will discover, 
is the wonderful variety of coins that are used daily. 
In some instances it takes a thousand pieces to make 
a dollar. These are called * cash,' but are never 
accepted as such by foreigners, except as curiosities." 

" Do the Japanese women compress their feet as in 
China?" asked George. 

" No ; but they have a custom far more disgusting 
and disfiguring. The Japanese, naturally, have fine 
teeth, but when a woman marries she is compelled 
by custom to dye her teeth black, and the process is 
repeated every few years. The effect is hideous, as 
ytfft have probably noticed. That reminds me of 
another curious usage among the women here. You 
have seen the girdle or sash which every lady wears ? 
Well, this is, I believe, the most important article in 
a native woman's wardrobe, and it is usually of as 



Tokio and an Earthquake. 95 

costly material as can be afforded. This sasli is tied 
behind in a huge bow with great care. When a Japa- 
nese woman becomes a widow, and wishes to signify 
her determination never to marry again, she ties the 
obi in front." 

"Mr. Stewart," said Arthur, "do you remember, 
when George pointed out that great wooden cross on 
the shore to-day, you said you could tell us what it 
was for?" 

" O, yes," replied Mr. Stewart, " I am glad you 
reminded me of it. You will all be greatly surprised, 
I doubt not, to learn that crucifixion is one of the 
modes of capital punishment still in use here. That 
cross was being set up for some poor criminal. But 
capital crimes are mostly expiated by decapitation 
with the sword. Every city lias a piece of ground 
set apart for the execution of criminals, usually upon 
the high road. The culprit kneels upon the edge of 
a trench, blindfolded, and the executioner, armed 
with one of the terrible two-handed swords, strikes off 
the head at a single blow." 

"I do wish we might see the Mikado," sighed 
Arthur ; " is not that what they call the emperor? " 

"Ah, my boy, that wish, I may safely predict, will 
go unfulfilled," replied Mr. Stewart. "I doubt if 



96 The Golden Gate to the Golden Jlor 



n. 



there are more than a hundred persons in all this 
great city who have ever set eyes upon his august 
form. The Japanese official class cast such a halo of 
mystery around the head of the government that it 
has happened that a prince has been dead some 
months ere the nation has learned the fact. But the 
revolution of 1868 rendered much of this mummery 
impossible in the future." 

" I have often heard you speak of that revolution," 
said Mr. Elroy, who had been an interested listener ; 
" I am sure we should enjoy an account of it from 
your recollections." 

" It arose in this way : For six hundred years 
Japan had been swayed by a civil ruler, the Tycoon, 
and by a religious ruler, the Mikado. The former 
held the reins of power, though the latter was his 
superior in rank. But in 1868 a long course of cor- 
ruption led to a popular revolution, which was finally 
successful, by which the power of the Tycoon was 
overthrown, and the Mikado was set up in his place 
as supreme ruler. He has continued to rule ever 
since, having been generally acknowledged as em- 
peror. He is, however, more or less of a myth ; he 
is seldom or never seen by the people, and generally 
gives audience by proxy. He acts through an exec- 



Tokio and an Earthquake. 97 

utive ministry, and there is an upper and lower legis- 
lative chamber, which deliberate upon national affairs. 
The empire is divided into seventy-two governments, 
each of which is presided over by a daimio, ' high- 
named ; ' and while the laws are severe and burden- 
some, many popular rights exist, and the Japanese, 
all things considered, are not an ill-governed people." 

" I think I have heard, or read, that Japan and the 
United States are very friendly," remarked George. 
"Is that so, sir?" 

" Yes. Probably the influence of our American 
ideas has led, more than any thing else, to the great 
strides Japan has recently taken in civilization. This 
friendliness between the Powers dates from the Japan 
Diplomatic Expedition, which consisted of a squad- 
ron of seven vessels under command of Commodore 
Perry. It sailed in the autumn of 1852, and reached 
Japan in 1853. Its mission was to carry a letter to 
the Emperor from our President requesting him to 
open his sea-ports to American commerce. 

" Perry was met by a great fleet of state barges 
in the Bay of Yedo, in which the squadron had anch- 
ored, and to the high officials on board the object 
of the embassy was made known. It is related that 
the Japanese were dumfounded, for they had never 



98 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

set eyes on a steam-ship until then. After deliberat- 
ing several months the Emperor agreed to the request 
of the President, and in the year 1860 a Japanese 
Embassy arrived in the United States. Ever since 
free intercourse has subsisted between the two peo- 
ples." 

Early the next morning, under the guidance of 
Mr. Stewart, our three travelers started on a tour 
of the Japanese metropolis. 

Stepping outside the boundaries of the hotel gar- 
den they found themselves immediately in one of 
the chief thoroughfares of the city, and in the midst 
of a scene wonderful in its variety of motion and 
color. 

A living panorama moved before their astonished 
gaze — nearly naked coolies, laden with burdens of 
every sort ; men and women of the lower class with 
children slung at their backs; traveling merchants 
with their goods carried by servants; foot-passengers 
of all sorts, their feet shod with high clogs or sandals 
of straw ; fierce -looking two-sworded warriors ; dai- 
mios gorgeously dressed and with a small army of 
retainers ; while moving swiftly through the crowds 
were pairs of coolies bearing the universal hango — a 
primitive-looking conveyance not unlike a hammock 



Tokio and an Earthquake. 99 

slung on a bamboo pole, and in which the passenger 
curls himself up in a semi-reclining position. 

Though themselves objects of curious interest to 
the natives, our party were fain to halt and gaze at 
this bewildering medley of sights and sounds. 

In the Japanese quarter of Tokio the street archi- 
tecture presents a very gay picture. The buildings 
are seldom more than a single story high, and the 
entire front is open to the public gaze, so that the 
wares exposed for sale may be seen by all. Banners, 
fantastic in color and design, are swung across the 
thoroughfare or flutter from poles thrust out from 
the house-fronts, and serve the purpose of business 
signs. 

Some of the shops are hardly larger than a good- 
sized doll's-house, and every thing they contain can 
be seen at a glance. Tea-houses are as plentiful as 
are saloons in some of our liquor-cursed American 
cities; while here and there a glimpse of a tiny gar- 
den behind the dwelling would gladden the eye with 
its grateful greenery. 

Frequently, in door-ways or in odd corners, natives, 
both male and female, might be seen squatting on 
their haunches, with eyes closed, and hands clasping 
their knees. 



100 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

" What are those persons doing % " inquired Ar- 
thur, as they passed a native in this seemingly un- 
comfortable attitude. 

" O, they are only resting ! " replied Mr. Stewart. 

At this explanation the boys and their father en- 
joyed a hearty laugh. 

The only lofty structures in Tokio, and, indeed, in 
all Japan, are the temples. 

In the Shinto houses of worship they were shown 
the looking-glass and crystal ball — the former in- 
tended to remind the worshipers that the Deity sees 
their hidden thoughts just as vividly and clearly as 
they see their faces in the mirror, while the latter is 
an emblem of his purity. 

The dwellings are seldom more than two stories in 
height, but are spread over a wide area laterally. 
There is a very good reason for this, as the boys 
found out soon after landing in this strange country. 
Earthquakes are of daily, nay, almost hourly, occur- 
rence, and the domestic architecture is so planned 
that the walls may not have far to fall. 

The following morning our party drove straight to 
an eminence in the middle of the city, named An- 
tangoreama, reached by a flight of a hundred stone 
steps, and from which a superb view of the city is to 



Tokio and an Earthquake. 101 

be had. This hill may be styled the Acropolis of To- 
kio ; it is fortified by moats and earth terraces. 

The market at Yokohama is the place to see Japa- 
nese outdoor life. Thousands flock here from the 
suburbs and the city alike, while the commodities 
displayed are as diverse as the costumes of the peo- 
ple. Large quantities of " fin, flesh, and fowl " were 
to be seen, but the sea furnished the greatest variety of 
edibles. Sharks' fins and cuttle-fish seemed to be the 
delicacies, though the latter are most repulsive look- 
ing. A huge fellow in a basket, his eight slimy arms 
hanging over the side, and his jelly-like body and 
cruel beak in the center, was valued at about two dol- 
lars American currency. On their return, a half hour 
later, Mr. Octopus was gone — to grace the board of 
some rich daimio. 

On their return they came upon an amusing and 
exciting scene, one exceedingly common in the larger 
cities. It is a sort of dance called " the Lion of 
Korea," and may be thus described: A troupe of 
four players appears in one of the streets, three form- 
ing the band, while the fourth, who is enveloped in 
a very large cloak, streaked or spotted, and sur- 
mounted by the enormous fanciful head of a lion, 
performs the dance. The monster indulges in every 



102 The Golden Gate to the Golden 'Horn. 

kind of antic ; lie raises himself at will, and often 
suddenly towers several feet above the surrounding 
people, while the children, crowding near, break into 
cries of terror, mingled with taunts to excite his ire, 
while some, more daring than others, lift the side of 
his cloak and pinch his legs. This rouses him, and 
he begins to threaten them ; he turns his head to- 
ward them, opening his mouth and shaking his 
mane, formed of strips of white paper, which sur- 
round his scarlet face, and then commences to dance 
to the music of his companions. He uses his own 
tambourine, and, when he ceases to dance, suddenly 
places it on the ground, and transforms himself into 
a quadruped, performing many grotesque capers, and 
ending all by throwing oh° his disguise, when the 
monster vanishes and the juggler appears. He now 
seizes a drumstick, and poising it on the thumb of 
his left hand, arranges another above it, and a third 
across the two others ; then he throws them into the 
air, receiving them again into his hand, and making 
them spin rapidly without intermission, adding, at 
the same time, one, two, three balls, while the spec- 
tators fail to discover how or whence they come. 
When the interest of the show is at its height one 
of the musicians passes a plate — that is to say, a fan, 



Tdkio and an Earthquake. 103 

on which some recompense is placed. The dance 
and representation being now over, the juggler rests, 
and, first loading himself with his cast-off clothes, he 
lights his pipe from some kind neighbor's, smoking 
contentedly — the very prince of good-nature — his 
head covered as far as the nose with the huge gro- 
tesque face of the monster. This last tableau is by 
no means the least striking part of the spectacle, and 
the whole scene is at once unique and interesting to 
a foreigner. 

The next spot of interest to which their genial 
guide, Mr. Stewart, directed their steps, was Shiba, 
the sacred cemetery of the Tycoons. The inclosure 
is of vast extent, and so artfully has the science of 
the landscape gardener been made to aid nature, that 
the expanse seems much greater than it really is. 

The cemetery is many centuries old, and succes- 
sive monarchs spent fabulous sums in beautifying 
the grounds and the temples therein. In one of the 
latter a succession of courts and chambers appeared, 
the walls and ceilings of which were adorned with 
frescoes and carving in the highest style of Japanese 
art. 

The truth of a remark made by a traveler in Japan, 
" One needs a hundred eyes to see all that is to be 



104: The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

seen," was deeply felt by all during their stay in 
Tokio. 

The return to Yokohama was made via the Tokai- 
da, amid a panoramic scene well-nigh as varied as 
that left behind in the streets of Tokio. 

Allusion has been made to the frequency of earth- 
quake shocks in Japan. The entire group is of vol- 
canic origin, and scarcely a day passes that tremors 
are not felt of greater or less intensity. The major- 
ity of the shocks do no damage, and the people take 
no notice of them, but occasionally the results are 
more serious to life and property. 

Already the boys had made acquaintance with 
these minor earth-tremblings, for since their arrival 
in Hondu several slight shocks had been felt. But 
ere they left its shores they were to witness the rav- 
ages of one of the most dreaded of Nature's hidden 
forces. 

Upon first going to Japan, it has been remarked, 
the traveler thinks lightly of these almost daily visita- 
tions, but terror grows with every recurrence, until 
life becomes miserable from being in a constant state 
of dread. This was the experience of Mr. Elroy and 
his sons. 

Upon the occasion above referred to our party had 



Tdkio and an Earthquake. 105 

driven in the forenoon to a noted tea-house, a few 
miles from Yokohama, and on the sea-coast. The 
day was singularly calm and quiet for the autumn of 
the year, for at that season fierce hurricanes ravage 
the islands. A filmy haze veiled the sky, through 
which the sun's rays shot in fitful gleams. 

All animate nature seemed under a spell of si- 
lence ; the hum of insects and the twitter of birds 
were hushed ; the wild-fowl congregated in groups on 
the margin of the streams and ponds ; and even the 
hoarse beating of the ocean surf was sunk to a sub- 
dued murmur. 

"'This is earthquake weather," said a member of 
the party, an American, long resident in the island. 

They were all seated in a charming arbor, sipping 
tea, and discussing a few dishes of Japanese sweet- 
meats. From their position they could look down on 
the beach, among the rocks of which the incoming 
and outgoing waves were softly gurgling. 

" Look ! Look ! " suddenly exclaimed Arthur, 
pointing to the slender tower of a temple visible 
through a clump of trees about half a mile away. 

All eyes were turned in the direction indicated, 
and a strange and awful sight met their gaze. With 

a slow, rocking motion, the tower was seen to sway 

7 



106 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

from side to side and then suddenly disappear in a 
cloud of dust. The dull report that was borne to 
their ears had scarcely reached them ere the frail 
structure in which they were seated was being vio- 
lently tossed to and fro with a motion akin to that of 
a ship laboring at sea, to the accompaniment of a 
hoarse rumbling in the bosom of the earth. 

"Jump! for your lives!" shouted Mr. Stewart; 
and scarcely had all done so, when, its supports 
having been rocked away, the roof collapsed on the 
spot where an instant before they had been seated. 

But while this havoc was being wrought on land, 
a scene no less awe-inspiring was being enacted on 
the sea. 

Silently the waters had receded more than a mile 
beyond the lowest ebb-tide. A moment they hung 
there as though confined in the grasp of a mighty 
hand. Then, with a mad sweep and whirl and roar 
the pent-up ocean came rushing back in one gigantic, 
foaming billow, forty or fifty feet high, dashing itself 
upon the rocky cliffs in acres of foam, the spray and 
spume of which was cast in the faces of the awe- 
struck beholders. 

At the same instant the windows of heaven were 
opened, and the rain poured down in sheets of water ; 



Tokio and an Earthquake. 



107 



the wind rose rapidly until it blew with almost hurri- 
cane force ; and our travelers returned drenched and 
buffeted by the gale, but thankful to their heavenly 
Father that his watchful mercy had preserved them 
unscathed. 

All along their homeward way evidences of the 
dread power of the earthquake were to be seen in 
shattered walls, ruined gardens, and gaping roofs ; and 
it was afterward learned that throughout the empire 
more or less havoc was wrought. In Yokohama a 
score of bamboo houses were demolished, only the 
more substantial structures escaping all damage. 



108 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 



CHAPTEK VII. 

JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 

'HON, as the Japanese call their 
country, is said to contain, in all, 
; three thousand eight hundred and 
fifty islands, but many of these 
are mere rocks fit only for the 
resting place of wandering sea-fowl, 

" The story of the Japanese Empire dur- 
ing the last quarter of a century," said Mr. 
Stewart, on the morning after the events recorded in 
the preceding chapter, " is one of the marvels of the 
age, and reads more like a romance than prosaic fact. 
" From the condition of a veritable hermit nation, 
like Korea, Japan has stepped out of its darkness and 
seclusion, and now ranks among the foremost Powers 
of the globe as respects the desire and willingness to 
profit- by the vast strides taken by other nations in 
educational and social, mechanical and political, im- 
provement during the present century." 

" I have no doubt that it would make an interest- 




Japan and the Japanese. 109 

ing narrative ; cannot you favor us with a brief 
account ? " inquired Mr. Elroy. 

" My dear sir, a book would not hold it all," was 
the reply ; " but I can give you the chapter heads. 
In the first place the barrier of exclusiveness has 
been removed, and various sea-ports are now open 
to foreign trade. A fine system of lights and bea- 
cons has been introduced as safeguards to navigation 
around the lengthy coast-line. The old Japanese 
calendar has been abolished, and we now reckon time 
as do the Western nations. A gold and silver cur- 
rency has been established similar to that in use in 
the United States. Scientific, educational, and be- 
nevolent institutions have been founded, and talented 
foreigners have been invited to preside over them. 
The feudal system has given place to a scheme of 
government which, while it leaves much to be 
desired, is modeled after that of the more enlight- 
ened nations of the earth. A free press has been 
established, and is respected and protected. For- 
eigners, once treated as enemies, are now welcomed 
as friends. The army and navy have been remod- 
eled, and Japan is now one of the best-defended 
countries in the world. 

"These are a few of the onward leaps taken by 



110 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

Japan ; and it has been well said that what this peo- 
ple have accomplished in less than a generation could 
not have been compassed in Europe in less than a 
century." 

"Why is Japan called the 'Land of the Rising 
Sun ? ' " inquired George, ever on the search for facts. 

"The most ancient name by which the country 
was known," replied his father, "was Yamato 
Zima, meaning 'east of the mountains.' The name 
Japan is a corruption of the Chinese Jipunquo, 
which signifies * country at the root of the sun,' or 
* land of the rising sun,' because when so named it 
was the most easterly in the then known world, 
America not having been discovered. Am 1 right ? " 
Mr. Elroy concluded, turning to Mr. Stewart. 

" Perfectly," was the rejoinder. " I may add that 
the word JSTipon, or Niphon, the name by which the 
largest of this group of islands is known, is the Chi- 
nese pronunciation of the same name, and properly 
belongs to the whole empire." 

" Is it true that there are four thousand islands in 
the group ? " asked George. 

" The exact number is three thousand eight hun- 
dred and fifty — a real archipelago." 

"And that reminds me," said Mr. Elroy, "of a 



Japan and the Japanese. Ill 

story the mate of the Golden Gate told me on our 
voyage hither. We were speaking one day of the 
queer names sailors attach to every port they visit, 
and he told me that they always speak of the Austra- 
lasian Archipelago as ' the Arches.' He further said 
that when he was an apprentice on board ship he 
frequently heard this name, and ransacked his mem- 
ory in vain for any such place. At length, on the 
term being used in his presence one day by an old 
salt, he ventured to inquire, * the Arches of what ? ' 

" ' Why, you lubber,' said the sailor, surveying him 
with measureless contempt, ' the Arches of Pelago, o' 
course ! ' " 

As an old resident, Mr. Stewart was perfectly con- 
versant with the labors of the heroic missionaries, and 
with the results of their efforts. In answer to Mr. 
Elroy's inquiry, he said : 

" Those who, in Japan and abroad, have followed 
the thrilling story of the endeavor to Christianize the 
people, know that for the first few years their work 
seemed to be in vain, so far as actual converts were 
concerned. The dangers that environed them were 
great, and scowling suspicion greeted them even from 
the very people whom they came to benefit. In the 
year 1859 their efforts began, but it was not until 



112 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

1864 that the first convert was baptized, and in 1872 
the roll of native Christians only numbered ten. But 
the work was not in vain, even in the face of such 
meager results. In those first thirteen years the 
foundations were laid exceeding broad, and in the 
last ten they have been reaping the fruit of these 
early labors. Since 1872 the results have been mag- 
nificent. The ten native Christians who in 1872 
figured on the roll, at the close of the ensuing decade 
had increased to five thousand. Of course, Japan is 
far from being Christianized to-day. But the experi- 
ence of the Christian centuries assures us that, under 
God's blessing, these five or six thousand shall be as 
the leaven that leaveneth the whole lump." 

If one asked for the prominent characteristics of 
the Japanese, the answer would be — cleanliness, neat- 
ness, and politeness. They excel in artistic pursuits, 
and in certain lines they are in advance of all other 
nations. Their porcelain and lacquer ware are be- 
yond comparison with the products of any other 
country. In delineations of animals they are par- 
ticularly happy, and it is marvelous how much they 
will express with a few strokes of the pencil. Also, 
they are great caricaturists, though it is their aim al- 
ways to present the ludicrous rather than the spiteful. 



Japan and the Japanese. 113 

In their diversions their tastes are simple and refined. 
Kite-flying is a favorite sport. But we will let Ar- 
thur describe this universal amusement by inserting 
an extract from one of his letters to a chum at Ever- 
ett Academy. 

"You have no idea," he wrote, "of the intense 
interest the Japanese take in flying kites. They in- 
vent the queerest devices, and much ingenuity is 
displayed in getting them into the air. They are so 
cheap that even the beggars indulge in this mild 
dissipation. The sizes and shapes are innumerable. 
For the smallest coin, like those they suspend on 
hooks outside the houses for the mendicants to help 
themselves to, you can purchase a really nice kite. 
From this size, a foot square, you can get them as 
large as the front of a house, decorated with hand- 
paintings of dragons, flowers, and deities, and costing 
a large sum. But the funny part of the whole thing 
is that it is the men who do the kite-flying, while the 
boys look on with open-mouthed delight. Children 
do fly them, of course, but not to any extent, and 
then only the common kinds. 

" They have acquired the trick of so making a kite 
and balancing it by means of the strings that they 



114 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

need no tails, though sometimes from a dozen dif- 
ferent places on its surface long pendent streamers 
flutter. Nearly every creature under the sun, and a 
great many others never heard of, are copied in 
paper or silk and bamboo, and sent 'kiting' in the 
air. But figures of birds and dragons have the pref- 
erence. Some of the kites are so large that two men 
are required to control them, and there is a story cur- 
rent of a man who tied the string of a large kite to 
his waist, and was taken up in the air, and never seen 
again. 

" Mr. Stewart told me the other day that the 
Japanese fathers puzzle their youngsters with this 
story : A man once had a huge kite, which he har- 
nessed to a plow when the wind blew strongly, and 
used to plow his fields by means of it. Of course, 
the boy who hears it for the first time always wants 
to know how he contrived to turn the furrow when 
he reached the end of the field, but all he gets for 
an answer is a succession of wise nods and cunning 
winks." 

Sorry enough were our trio when the day ar- 
rived for farewells to be said to the u Land of the 
Rising Sun," to the kite-flying, to the rides in the 



Japan and the Japanese. 



115 



jinrikisha, to the strange cookery, and last, but not 
least, to the friends whose kindness had made 
their stay therein so pleasant and so profitable. But 
Mr. Elroy's business matters having been finally ad- 
justed, there was nothing more to delay their departs 
ure, so they took up the dropped thread of their 
journey once more. 




116 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 




CHAPTER VIII. 

A TYPHOON IN THE CHINA SEA. 

ONG-KONG, in China, was the next 
objective point in our travelers' 
itinerary. To reach it they 
found it necessary to cease sailing 
under the Stars and Stripes, vessels 
bearing which flag had borne them 
thus far on their journey, and take passage 
l under the Union Jack. On the morning of 
the seventh of September they found themselves 
once more afloat. 

A steamer of the Peninsula and Oriental Steam- 
ship Company — colloquially shortened in the East to 
" P. and O." — ran from Yokohama to Singapore and 
beyond, touching at Shanghai and Hong-Kong en 
route. At starting the course lay through the In- 
land Sea of Japan, the passage of which constitutes 
the most beautiful sea-voyage in the world. 

This landlocked expanse of water, though ^yq 
hundred miles in extent from east to west, and vary- 



A Typhoon in the China Sea. 117 

ing greatly in breadth, is dotted with more than 
three thousand islands, of the most lovely forms im- 
aginable, from the lofty, cone-shaped, tree-clad peak 
nine hundred feet high, to the gracefully rounde 
islet as green as an emerald. The Japanese nam 
for this singularly attractive sheet of water is Sl 
wonada, as musical as the expanse of land and wate, 
it designates is beautiful. 

Rarely is the surface of this sea ruffled by storms, 
and the picture presented to the voyager of bay 
and headland, valley and stream, narrowing strait and 
ever-changing channel, is one to haunt the memory. 

The Inland Sea is, as one traveler has said, Killar- 
ney, the Zuyder-Zee, Lake Geneva, Loch Katrine, and 
Windermere combined. 

After a tussle with the north-east monsoon in 
crossing the Eastern China Sea, in sharp contrast to 
the voyaging over the placid waters they had left 
behind, and during which the boys were gratified by 
the sight of a giant water-spout, the Malabar entered 
the broad estuary of the Yangtse River, upon an 
affluent of which, the Woosung, Shanghai is situated, 
about twelve miles from its mouth. 

The delay here was not of sufficient length to give 
passengers a chance to land, the transfer of a few 



118 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

mail packages and the coaling only consuming a 
couple of hours, and by sunset of the same day the 
Malabar was again cleaving the waters of the China 
Sea. All Chinese cities are much alike, and the 




THE WATER-SPOUT. 



prospect of a more lengthy stay at Hong-Kong rec- 
onciled the boys to this speedy, though only tempo- 
rary, departure from Chinese soil. 

Hong-Kong is distant from Shanghai eight hun- 
dred and fifty miles, and the trip is usually made in 
less than three days. 

But it was now the autumn of the year, when the 



A Typhoon in the China Sea. 119 

monsoon often blows with great ferocity, and the 
Malabar was destined to carry her crew and passen- 
gers through greater peril than any our voyagers had 
yet encountered. 

The vessel was a screw steamer, of about twenty- 
five hundred tons, officered by Englishmen, and 
manned by a few English sailors and a great many 
Lascars — the name given throughout the East to low- 
caste natives engaged in following the sea. Under 
competent direction they make tolerable seamen, but 
in time of danger they often prove cowardly and 
treacherous. 

The night of the day on which Shanghai was left 
astern fell fine and clear, and the stars twinkled 
frostily overhead. But as the night wore on the 
breeze from the north freshened, and great banks of 
cloud came flying after the steamer until the light of 
the stars was quenched, and the darkness became " as 
black as a wolf's throat." 

Lightning flashed incessantly, and was answered by 
phosphorescent gleams from the surges that, under 
the rising gale, ran higher and higher. Then came 
the rain, plumping down upon the decks " in bucket- 
fuls," as Arthur expressed it, and until five o'clock 
in the morning the downpour was incessant. The 



120 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

uproar was terrific — the howling of the wind, the 
booming of the thunder, and the hissing of the rain 
making grand and awful harmony. 

At day-break the boys and Mr. Elroy, in company 
with one or two equally hardy passengers, came on 
deck. Though the strength of the wind then blow- 
ing was only what sailormen call a heavy gale, the 
indications were that worse weather was to follow. 
The barometer was steadily falling, and, like a wise 
commander, the captain was making his ship snug 
ere the worst came. Up to ten o'clock, though the 
wind did not increase, the run of the seas became 
heavier ; the engines were slowed to half-speed, and 
at every plunge the iron bows of the steamer were 
buried to the hawse-pipes, and a wide expanse of 
foam went creaming away from her sides at every 
roll. 

Breakfast was a serious undertaking with these 
conditions. The swinging trays were sometimes on 
a plane with the cabin ceiling, and to keep one's plate 
from sliding across the table or pitching into one's 
lap called eye and hand into constant service. After 
a brief contest of this sort all who were able went on 
deck again, and, clad in rubbers and oil skins, watched 
the gathering tempest. 



A Typhoon in the China Sea. 121 

The rain and thunder and lightning had ceased 
some time ago, though the heavens wore an increas- 
ing gloom and the sun's light was well-nigh hid. 
But a mighty change was at hand. 

Shortly before noon the north-east gale suddenly 
dropped, and an oppressive stillness reigned in the 
air, only broken by the crashing of the heavy surges. 
The darkness deepened, and though somewhere the 
sun was shining, figures and objects on deck were in- 
distinct at teu paces. It was necessary to hold on by 
some support, and the slightest loosening of one's 
grasp was to invite being dashed across the deck with 
the next roll of the steamer. 

The boys begged so hard to be allowed to remain 
on deck to witness the first really great storm they 
had met that Mr. Elroy consented. Provided they 
"held on all" there was not much more peril on deck 
than in the cabins. 

Suddenly a cry from the captain, who stood near 

the wheel, gave warning of the impending change. 

Away down in the south-east the murky sky had 

assumed a whitish hue, and immediately in front of 

this band of light-colored cloud could be seen patches 

of vapor torn and hurried hither and thither by 

fierce currents of wind. While it was miles away 
8 



122 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

the shrieking of the wind could be plainly heard by 
those on board the Malabar. 

Scarcely had the steamer's head been brought to 
face the advancing tempest when, with a roar, the 
typhoon was upon them. 




VS A TYPHOON. 



" Down ! for your lives ! " was the cry, and all 
threw themselves flat on the deck, for to stand or 
breathe against the blast was impossible. With the 
wind came the rain again, and in the space of a min- 
ute the decks were flooded ankle deep. The plashing 
of the falling sheets of water whitened the surface of 



A Typhoon in the China Sea. 123 

the sea as with snow, and such was the force of the 
cyclone that the waves were beaten flat. 

But only for a few moments did this unnatural 
tranquillity last. The ocean began to rise in response 
to the lashings of the wind, and soon the Malabar 
was pitching and tossing in a heavier sea than before. 
With the screw revolving at half -speed it was just 
possible to keep her head to wind, though she was 
drifting bodily to leeward with the send of every 
surge. 

The word " typhoon " is derived from a Chinese 
word, tai-fon, and is applied to those storms having a 
rotary or circular motion. None but those who have 
felt its power can imagine the force and fury of the 
wind in one of these rotary storms. 

Suddenly a dead calm fell, and this denoted that 
the Malabar was in the center of the storm. At 
the distance of half-a-mile on either hand the hoarse 
roaring of the hurricane was heard all around, and 
the sensation of this sudden transition from uproar 
to comparative silence was calculated to make the 
stoutest heart quail. Overhead the air was full of 
feathered creatures that had been sucked into the vor- 
tex of the tempest, and that hung there imprisoned. 
For the space of twenty minutes the Malabar lay, 



124 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

her engines going "dead slow," in the center of the 
typhoon. Then, with another fearful roaring, the 
wind again leveled the waves, and again the air was 
filled with flying foam. Within an hour the billows 
liad risen to a terrific height. At every plunge the 
Malabar buried half her deck. Sometimes it seemed 
as if each downward dive would be her last, yet again 
and again the noble hull rose from the watery abyss 
and seemed to shake her streaming sides in triumph. 

Luckily, these cyclonic storms are short-lived in 
their intensity. At six o'clock in the evening the 
glass began to rise, which betokened a change in the 
weather ; but it was not until near midnight that the 
stars shone out once more. But the gale still blew 
with venomous force. Squall after squall swept over 
the ship, and the sea, as if released from the clutches 
of the typhoon, rolled in heavier surges than ever 
before. 

But gradually, though surely, this tumult subsided. 
Long before midnight George and Arthur and their 
father, worn out by the incessant uproar and heaving, 
had retired to the shelter of their cabins. When they 
came on deck next morning the Malabar was steam- 
ing swiftly on her course once more over a long and 
heavy swell, while her decks were rapidly drying in 



A Typhoon in the China Sea. 125 

the brilliant morning sun and bearing scarcely a trace 
of the buffe tings she had received. 

It was the Sabbath day, and at eleven o'clock the 
little company of passengers gathered under an awn- 
ing on the deck for divine service. A missionary and 
his family, homeward bound for England, had been 
taken on board at Shanghai, and to him was the con- 
duct of the morning's worship assigned by the worthy 
captain. 

With the echoes of yesterday's tempest yet sound- 
ing in their ears, it was with awe and gratitude that 
all sung the familiar hymn : 

" God moves in a mysterious way 

His wonders to perform ; 
He plants his footsteps in the sea, 

And rides upon the storm." 

And the hearts of all echoed the prayer of thanksgiv- 
ing that ascended on high to the Ruler of the tempest 
for their recent preservation from the perils of the 
great deep. 

At sunset on Monday, the 14th of September, 
anchor was dropped off the island of Hong-Kong. 
This means "red harbor," from the red, brownish- 
red, or yellow color of the hills, while the other native 
name, Hiang - Kiang, signifies "the fragrant or 



126 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

flowing streams." The channel by which the city is 
approached, called the Kowloon Passage, is very long, 
tortuous, and narrow. In some parts the rocky banks 
nearly meet, so that one feels as though he were 
being carried through a mountain gorge. On this ac- 
count vessels usually go up to the city by daylight, 
and so the Malabar anchored off the light on the 
eastern extremity of the island. At six o'clock next 
morning the pilot came on board and the engines were 
once more started ahead, though at half-speed. 

The city is built on an island about twenty-five 
miles in circumference at the mouth of the Canton 
River. It is an English possession, having been 
ceded to that Power in 1842, and now forms a most 
flourishing colony. Its proper name is Victoria, but 
throughout the East it is known and referred to by 
its native name. In front of the city the swarm of 
shipping bewilders the eye. On board the tall East 
Indian tea-clipper and the humble sampan, on the 
lordly mail-steamer and the silken-sailed junk, all was 
life and motion and color. 

The island itself is rocky and bare, and there is 
scarcely a level acre upon its entire surface. But on 
its northern shore it possesses a fine harbor, deep 
and safe, and here stands the city. Steamers from 



A Typhoon in the China Sea. 127 

Bombay, Calcutta, San Francisco, Canton, Macao, and 
Singapore arrive and depart daily, and thousands of 
sailing-vessels throng the harbor. Indeed, from 
where the Malabar lay, George and Arthur, by the 
aid of the ship's glass, made out nearly a hundred 
vessels flying the Stars and Stripes. 

A great pest to skippers are the swarms of Chinese 
boats that cover the bay. They sell fish and poultry 
to incoming vessels, and are also suspected of an eye 
to other people's property. A perfect swarm clam- 
bered over the Malabar 's bulwarks as soon as the 
anchor was down, and refused to disperse. But the 
engineer's mate turned the deck-hose on them, and 
they tumbled into their boats with unceremonious 
haste. 

The sampans are long and narrow and deep, sharp 
at either end, possessing a deep keel, and carrying a 
small awning. Underneath the floor-boards are one 
place for a fire, one for an altar, and a third where 
the children may be stowed out of harm's way. 

Hong-Kong is the sea-port for Canton, and the 
business of the place and the foreign commerce is 
mostly transacted there, scarcely a sea - going vessel 
ascending the Canton Biver. Being essentially a 
European city, and one given up exclusively to trade 



128 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

and commerce, there is not much of interest to be 
seen there. The governor's palace, the city hall, the 
exchange, and many of the "hongs" of the mer- 
chants are palatial buildings. The island contains 
many lofty peaks, one of which, 1,825 feet high, rises 
behind the town, and in some places seems almost to 
overhang it. 

The ascent of this peak is really the only trip of 
interest at Hong-Kong. Anxious to stretch their 
legs after their ship-board confinement, George and 
Arthur started for the summit on the afternoon of 
their arrival, with a coolie for a guide. 

The view amply repaid their exertions. At their 
feet lay the town, the harbor and its shipping, and 
the neighboring river, islands, and the sea, all glisten- 
ing in the afternoon sun. 

The climate would appear to be most pleasant but 
for the frequent typhoons, similar to that through 
which the Malabar had lately passed, which sweep 
in from the sea. They come with no warning, and 
their disastrous effects to life and property it is 
impossible to guard against. Such is their terrible 
force that iron columns are snapped, roofs blown off, 
and granite walls leveled. 

Here, too, our friends heard for the first time that 



A Typhoon in the China Sea. 



129 



curious lingo known as " pidgin " English, that is, 
" business" English, used by European residents in 
their intercourse with the natives. It resembles 
nothing so much as a species of grown-up " baby 
talk." 

It was arranged that Mr. Elroy should stay at 
Hong-Kong over one steamer — a week — which would 
allow ample time for a visit to Canton, the oldest city 
of China, and its environs. 




130 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 



CHAPTEK IX. 

CANTON AND THE CANTONESE. 

IE cities of China are remarka- 
ble for the similarity of their 
appearance, and only in vari- 
ous degrees of filthiness do 
they materially differ. Mr. El- 
roy was assured that, in seeing Canton, he 
and his sons would witness Chinese life at 
its best, and yet miss none of its peculiar 
features. 

Canton, the great commercial emporium of the 
extensive province of Quang-Tong, is situated on the 
north bank of the Pearl Piver, eighty miles from 
Hong-Kong. A river steamer of American build 
makes daily trips between the two places. 

For fully thirty miles the way lies through a wide 
estuary or bay, dotted with islands, though the scenery 
is neither interesting nor impressive. But after the 
famous "Bogue Forts" are passed the landscape 
takes on new features. These defenses are situated 




Canton and the Cantonese. 



131 



at a narrow pass called " Boca Tigre " (" the tiger's 
mouth "). from which they take their name. By the 
Chinese they were considered impregnable, but dur- 
ing the English war with China, in 1841, they were 
captured by Sir G. Bremer, and the guns spiked. 
They are now mere picturesque ruins. 

On nearing Canton the prodigious number of 




CHINESE JUNK. 



boats with which the surface is crowded, sometimes 
amounting to a hundred thousand, was the first thing 
to impress our travelers. Many of these were flit- 
ting to and fro, some propelled by sails of matting, 
others by a long oar worked by a man or woman at 
the stern. As far as the eye could scan, on either 
bank, were closely moored ranks of these river boats. 
These are fixed residences, numbering upward of 



132 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

forty thousand, and harboring a population of two 
hundred thousand. 

" The inhabitants of this floating city," said a gen- 
tleman to the boys, "are called Tankia ; in English, 
' boat people.' They are a class by themselves, have 
many peculiar customs, and are despised by other 
portions of the community." 

Some of these house-boats are sixty or eighty feet 




JP 




A CHINESE HOUSE-BOAT. 



long, and Mteen or twenty feet wide. But by far 
the handsomest are the hwa-ting, or "flower-boats," 
veritable floating gardens, with raised decks, gayly- 
colored awnings, and pretty cabins. Those of the 
poorer class are only the size of an ordinary row-boat, 
with a simple mat or bamboo covering over the after- 
most half. 

The larger boats are usually moored in tiers, side 



Canton and the Cantonese. 133 

by side, with long lanes of water between each block ; 
but the smaller and poorer class are more migratory 
in their habits, as their occupants subsist largely by 
fishing. The men get employment on shore when 
they can, and leave their craft to be managed by 
their wives, who make excellent boatwomen. 

Arthur expressed surprise that a family of children 
could be reared on board one of these frail abodes. 
Hundreds of them could be seen skipping about from 
boat to boat as unconcernedly as if on a city pave- 
ment. 

"Do they never fall overboard and drown?" he 
inquired of a passenger. 

"Frequently," was the reply. "But, as you may 
see, their mothers tie a short bamboo joint to each 
child, which, if the youngster fall into the water, 
serves as a float on which it is supported until picked 
up. But I am sorry to say that the struggle for 
existence is so close in this populous land that parents 
of the poorer sort never grieve much if a child is not 
heard of again ; while in such light esteem are girls 
held, that the loss of one or two is almost regarded in 
the light of a blessing." 

The typhoons so common to the China seas work 
fearful havoc among this floating city. ISTot many 



134 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

years ago, one of these tempests drove the larger 
boats from their moorings ; these in tarn crashed 
into their smaller neighbors, the occupants of which 
were either thrown out, or earned to the bottom 
with their sinking homes; hundreds were torn to 
pieces by the fury of the blast, and when an estimate 
could be made it was found that sixty thousand per- 
sons had perished. 

There are very few prominent buildings in Can- 
ton, and the prospect from the river is flat and unin- 
teresting. Opposite the city, however, is an island 
called Shah-Min, connected with the city by a grace- 
ful iron bridge. In 1861, when the foreign powers 
evacuated Canton, the site of their official residences 
was laid in ruins, and a low, sandy island was set 
apart for them instead. 

At great expense it was diked, raised several feet, 
laid out in streets and gardens, and the foreign 
"hongs" and residences built thereon. It is now a 
veritable city of palaces, and constitutes the one 
redeeming feature in the view of Canton from the 
river. In a small hotel on Shah-Min, charmingly 
embowered in flowering shrubs, our party took up 
their abode for a few days. 

It was too late on the day of their arrival to com- 



Canton and the Cantonese. 135 

mence the tour of Canton, but early the following 
morning the long iron bridge was crossed, and the 
gate of the city entered. 

Each street terminates in a gate, and in many cases 
an entire thoroughfare is devoted to a particular trade. 
Though Canton is better built and more cleanly than 
any other Chinese city, save Peking, yet the streets 
do not by any means answer to their high-sounding 
names. Perfumes unnamable, and rivaling in pun- 
gency those of famed Cologne, assailed the nostrils of 
our trio at every step, even in "Pure Pearl Street" 
and in the "Street of Perfect Loveliness;" while the 
" Street of Benevolence and Love " was occupied by 
pawnbrokers — a large class in the Celestial Empire — 
and the "Court of Unblemished Kectitude" was given 
up to gamblers ! 

The streets are narrow and crooked — from two to 
sixteen feet broad — never more, but the average width 
is seven or eight feet. Many thoroughfares are cov- 
ered with matting, to exclude the sun, thus ensuring 
a gloomy appearance and a stifling atmosphere. The 
houses are generally one story high, never more than 
two, and are usually devoid of any attempt at beauty 
of design. Shop and residence are combined, and 
these dingy alleys are sometimes ablaze with rich and 




FBONT OF A CHINESE BAZAB. 



Canton and t/ie Cantonese. 137 

costly merchandise of every description. Many streets 
are bazars miles in length, rich jewelry, silks, shawls, 
laces, exquisite carvings in ivory, and every descrip- 
tion of artistic handiwork being tastefully arranged 
for sale. The principal streets and those given over 
to particular callings are hung with gay banners sus- 
pended from the tops of the houses on either hand, 
while innumerable silken signs project from the 
lower stories. The various industries are prosecuted 
in full view of the passers-by. 

Imagine the bewilderment of George and Arthur 
on finding themselves part of a motley procession 
moving slowly through an eight-foot-wide lane whose 
twistings and windings appeared to lead nowhere. 
The noisy tide of chattering Orientals surged and 
jostled each other ; water-carriers, coolies carrying 
immense burdens and others bearing sedan-chairs, 
would sometimes block up the entire street so that 
foot passengers were compelled to squeeze themselves 
into door-ways to make way. Frequently a religious 
procession, with tapers flaming, banners flying, and 
drums beating, would swoop along carrying every 
thing before it. 

A half- hour of this kind of traveling sufficed for 

our party. It seemed that those in sedan-chairs were 
9 



138 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 



the only persons who made any progress ; so, calling 
three of these vehicles, they got in, and soon found 
themselves moving with comparative expedition. 

aNTot a street in the city will admit the passage of 
any kind of wheeled vehicle, so all merchandise and 
passengers are carried by coolies in the manner de- 
scribed. 




STREET WATER- CARRIBR IN CHINA. 



Instead of returning to their hotel for dinner, the 
boys besought their father to take them where a gen- 
nine Chinese meal conld be had. After spending a 
great deal of time in making their coolies understand 
what they wanted, they were at last carried to a reg- 
ular Chinese eating-house, where the patrons sat at 
low tables in full view of the passers-by on the street. 



Canton and the Cantonese. 139 

The place was a fine one, fitted up in a luxurious 
manner, and with a small army of waiters. 

The Chinese have a wide variety of edible com- 
modities, and besides they utilize many which West- 
ern nations reject. Rats, cats, and dogs the boys saw 
exposed for sale in the markets on another occasion, 
though this fact has been denied. Other staples are 
pork and chickens. 

" Father, do you really think they'll give us roast 
puppy or fricasseed cat ? " queried Arthur. 

" Where ignorance is bliss — " began Mr. Elroy, 
when George exclaimed : 

" Now we're in for it, I'm just going to ' shut 
my eyes and open my mouth,' and ask no awkward 
questions." 

"As to cat, rat, or dog," said Mr. Elroy, continuing, 
" I have very little doubt that those fond of those 
delicacies can procure them at certain restaurants in 
the city; but we are scarcely likely to be served with 
such. I am told that the Chinese of the better 
sort never grace, or rather disgrace, their tables with 
those things." 

"Well, at any rate," said Arthur, "I hope they 
will give us bird's-nest soup." 

" I have already ordered it," said Mr. Elroy. 



140 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

These l edible nests ' are a delicacy peculiar to 
China. None but the wealthy can afford to have 
them on their tables, and they are literally worth 
their weight in silver and gold. A grade not strictly 
first-class will fetch thirty or forty dollars a pound, 
and from two to three million dollars' worth are im- 
ported into Canton alone. 

The much-prized delicacy consists of the gelatinous 
appendage of the nest of a species of swallow, by 
means of which the mass of twigs, fibers, hair, sea- 
grass, etc., is attached to rocky precipices in the 
Eastern Archipelago. Yast numbers are found to- 
gether in caves, and are collected at no slight personal 
peril by natives, aided by ropes or ladders. 

The costlier sort are as clear as isinglass, and there 
is nothing repulsive in their appearance. The entire 
party voted the soup delicious, and their opinion of 
Chinese cookery rose higher with every course. There 
were two kinds of sea-weed, fish, chicken minced and 
pressed into cunning little shapes, several compound- 
ed dishes whose contents they thought best to take 
on trust, rice in a variety of styles, and finally several 
dishes of preserved and candied fruits. The whole 
dinner was interspersed with numerous tiny cups of 
tea, and a native orchestra behind a screen of vines 



Canton and the Cantonese. 



141 



and shrubs made what passed for exquisite music 
among the diners, but what, by Western ears, would 
be accounted execrable discord. 

A Chinese kitchen, from which such good things 
are turned out for the table, is a wonder in its way. 




A CHINESE DOMESTIC SCENE. 



There is nothing in it but a cooking stove or two, 
not larger than a good-sized water pail, with a few 
stew-pans, from which few utensils come the many 
courses for the table, all well cooked and garnished. 
It would seem that in the matter of cookery the Chi- 
nese are the superiors of many Occidental nations. 



142 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn, 

A Chinese bill of fare comprises beche-de-mer soup 
(in plain English, sea-slug soup, which, even if it does 
not sound well, in reality tastes very nice), sweet soups, 
stews, and ragouts of every conceivable meat save 
beef, turtle soup, soup of ducks' tongues, maccaroni, 
fairy rice, skins of pigs' mouths, dragon whisker, veg- 
etables, and ducks' eggs, hard boiled and black with 
age, of which more anon. The omission of beef from 
the tables of all classes is explained by the fact that 
oxen are accounted too valuable to the Chinese farmer 
to be ruthlessly slaughtered for food. ISTo bread is 
served, but an innumerable variety of delicate little 
preserves and pickles are handed round on tiny silver 
salvers between the courses. 

A fter dinner they were ready for the streets again, 
until the near approach of sunset warned them that 
they must be wending their way toward Shah-Min, if 
they did not desire to spend the night inside the walls 
of Canton. 

The next day was set apart for a visit to a tea- 
plantation a few miles up the river, to which they 
went by the ubiquitous sampan or native boat. 

Tea is the Chinese staple product, as cotton and 
wheat are of the United States, or sugar and coffee 
of the West and East Indies. In a state of nature 



Canton and the Cantonese. 143 

the tea -plant would attain a height of twenty or 
twenty-five feet ; but under cultivation it is cut down 
and dwarfed to about four or five. Three years after 
planting the young cuttings the first crop of leaves is 
gathered, and thenceforward, by careful treatment, the 
plants will bear well for twenty-five or thirty years. 

A tea-field is not a particularly interesting sight. 
The plants are set out in long rows 
about a yard apart, and the leaves are 
picked several times during the season, 
the earlier and tenderer growth being 
esteemed the best. After picking the 
process varies accordingly as black or 
green tea is desired — the difference 
being purely one of manufacture, the tea -plant. 
black and green teas of commerce being grown on the 
same bush. 

As they walked through the tea -field under the 
guidance of the overseer, an intelligent native speak- 
ing English with fluency, the boys saw the fragrant 
herb in the various stages of preparation. For black 
tea the leaves, when picked, are spread out in the 
open air for some time, then shaken, then roasted in 
pans over a slow fire for a few minutes, then rolled 
between the palms of the hands, again exposed to the 




144 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

air for a number of hours, and finally dried over the 
fire till they are of the dusky black hue desired. 

For green tea the leaves are roasted as soon as picked, 
which fixes the natural juices. Then they are rolled 
with the hands on a table, and finally restored to the 
drying pans, which are kept in motion for an hour, 
at the end of which time they are finished. At this 
stage the color is that of a dull green, but after a few 
days it becomes much brighter, when it is said to be 
"fixed." The extremely high color of some green 
teas is imparted by means of poisonous drugs. 

But the favorite mode of tea adulteration in China 
would seem to be the admixture of spent leaves with 
fresh. All through the empire the native mode of 
brewing tea is to pour boiling water on a few leaves 
in each cup, and consequently the entire strength is 
never extracted. 

The return journey was performed in a species of 
covered cart — the only wheeled vehicle to be seen in 
the empire — one for each person, and each cart drawn 
by two mules. 

The body of this cart is a cross between a hen- 
coop and a dog-kennel. It is made of hard wood, 
and very strong, the sides being barred like the win- 
dows in a penitentiary. There is no seat of any 



Canton and the Cantonese. 147 

kind, nor any projection on which one can lay hold 
to steady one's self against the terrible jerks from 
side to side as the cart drops into the travel-worn 
ruts of ages, and is " yanked " out again by the span 
of mules. 

The hubs of these carts, though designed to carry 
but one passenger and the driver, are as large and 
heavy as those of the strongest drays in the United 
States, and, as one traveler has humorously remarked, 
" the wheels are as strong and as full of rivets as the 
wheels in the chariot of Ezekiel's vision were full of 
eyes." Through these ponderous hubs the axles pro- 
ject for a distance of seven inches. What good this 
projection does, except to hit against every thing in 
the way, belongs to Chinese civilization to determine. 
The passenger is expected to sit cross-legged on the 
floor of this machine, and he is securely fenced in 
from the vulgar gaze, and as completely prevented 
from seeing out, by a covering of strong blue cotton 
muslin. To enter this chariot one must get on the 
shafts, and then crawl backward to his place, for 
there is no door. 

It was with feelings of thankfulness that our party 
alighted outside the city wall, and Arthur and George, 
after feeling of their limbs very carefully, came to 



148 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

the conclusion that none of their bones were broken. 
Mr. Elroy protested that several times he had en- 
deavored to get his driver to stop and let him get 
out and walk, but was evidently misunderstood, for 
the only response he made was to urge the animals 
to a faster trot. 

A visit to an idol factory afforded a melancholy 
pleasure, though the sight was sufficiently curious. 
One would think that the mere fact that these images 
are the work of human hands would rob them of all 
sanctity in the eyes of their deluded devotees. That 
such is not the case proves how deeply the people are 
steeped in ignorance and superstition, and how much 
the blessed radiance of the Gospel is needed to dispel 
their moral darkness. 

In another building, half-temple, half- workshop, 
were a number of artisans at work on groups repre- 
senting the punishments of the wicked after death. 
A rough frame of wood is put together, padded with 
straw, and then clay is put over all, baked to hard- 
ness, and painted. Over each group stood a god, 
acting as judge, and two imps below him were sup- 
posed to be carrying out his behests. In one a tat- 
tling woman's tongue was being cut out ; slanderers 
were being sawn asunder, that all might perceive 



Canton and the Cantonese. 14:9 

their evil motives ; thieves and robbers were being 
hurled from rocky pinnacles and mangled on the 
crags below ; murderers had a huge sword thrust 
into their breasts. The diversity of punishments 
seemed to be calculated for every known crime — 
some were condemned to be boiled, others roasted, 
and yet others were to be pounded in a gigantic 
mortar. 

The last day of the stay at Canton was devoted to 
the chief temples ; in all there are upward of a hun- 
dred, but only a few possess any special interest to 
the traveler, the principal being the remarkable Bud- 
dhist place of worship, Ho-Nan, on an adjacent large 
island. The many-storied pagodas are every-where 
a prominent feature in Chinese scenery, whether ur- 
ban or suburban, but the " joss-houses," or Buddhist 
temples, largely predominate. 

A long avenue of stately trees gives access to the 
temple of Ho- Wan, midway in which is a large arch- 
way. The temple itself has many claims to magnifi- 
cence, but, strange to say, is surrounded by an im- 
mense colony of hogs, who are fed out of the 
revenues of the temple. A large number of priests, 
with shaven heads, are also supported here. It is 
related that, as the preservation of life is a part of 



150 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

the creed of Buddhism, these hogs are never killed, 
but simply die of old age or over-feeding. 

Worship is performed daily by a "course" of 
about twenty priests, and the service consists of 
hammering on tom-toms, chanting, ringing of silver 
bells, to the accompaniment of which several circuits 
of the temple are made, interspersed with bowings 
and bobbings at stated intervals. Strange to say, 
Arthur and George, their father, and two other " for- 
eign devils," as the Chinese rabble politely designate 
all aliens, were the only spectators at this imposing 
ritual. Respect for religious rites is not a conspicu- 
ous trait among the Chinese. 

Next came a visit to the " Temple of the Five 
Hundred Gods," a joss-house, wherein are half a 
thousand gilded life-size wooden images, arranged in 
lines, and supposed to represent as many wise men, 
authentic or fabulous, and of various nationalities. 

One of these images was supposed to represent St. 
Francis Xavier, the great missionary and pioneer. 
He was most absurdly dressed in nautical costume, 
having a shiny tarpaulin hat perched on the back of 
his head, a blue jacket with brass buttons, and white 
pants ! 

Not far away was yet another remarkable struct- 



Canton and the Cantonese. 151 

are, known as the " Temple of Horrors." It con- 
tains a large number of groups of statues, or rather 
images, representing the various phases of the human 
soul, according to Chinese theology. Several figures 
are supposed to be undergoing the pains of purga- 
tory ; another set portrays the various steps or stages 
in the transmigration of a human being from a lower 
to a higher plane of existence. These hideous imag- 
inings are supposed to adorn the square in front of 
the temple. 

Inasmuch as every Chinaman has his own private 
shrine at the door of his house, before which he con- 
sumes his joss-sticks and conducts his devotions, the 
presumption is that this widely prevalent system of 
individual devotions accounts for the sparse attend- 
ance at the public temple worship. 

Frequently the open space in front of a temple is 
crowded with jugglers, gamblers, astrologers, and 
fortune-tellers, each w T ith a highly edified group 
around, and it would seem that the idea. of worship 
had no lodgment in the heads or hearts of the 
thronging crowds. 

Altogether the verdict of our trio, as of all travel* 
ers, was that the temples of China were vastly in- 
ferior to those of Japan. 



152 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

A common street scene in China is that of a native 
physician treating his patients. On their return they 
came upon such a group, and halted to watch his 
method. The doctor stood on the street with his 
charms, such as the teeth of men and wild animals, 
tiger claws, snake skins, and possibly a skull — and by 
recounting some marvelous story of his powers to 
cure, quickly attracted a great crowd. Soon a patient 
offered himself. He complained that his arm was 
powerless from the shoulder down (probably a case 
of paralysis). 

The quack clapped a plaster on his shoulder, which 
was so strong that it drew blood. While this was 
supposed to be doing its work the doctor was admin- 
istering copious doses of pinching and prodding. 
Suddenly he seized the patient's hand and jerked 
his arm, as though he were trying to dislocate it, till 
the poor victim howled with the pain. Then, to 
show how strong he was, the doctor took a club in 
each hand and beat himself severely on the head and 
breast. It appeared, however, that all this treatment 
was merely with a view to diagnose the case — the 
patient being dismissed with a description of his 
complaint in Chinese writing and with instructions 
to visit a certain medicine man, who, he was told, 



Canton and the Cantonese. 



153 



would know what remedies to prescribe. Then he 
was to burn incense, and pray to his " joss," and if 
on the next day he was not completely cured, he was 
to return and his money would be refunded. 

As our party turned away they were thoroughly 
convinced of the magnitude of the field open to our 
noble medical missionaries throughout the Flowery 
Kingdom. 



154: The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 



CHAPTEE X. 




MANNERS AND CUSTOMS IN THE FLOWERY KINGDOM. 

VERY tiling in China is upside 
down," wrote George, in one of 
his letters to the circle of aunts 
and cousins in far - away New 
York. 
" Here the compass does not point to the 
north, as with us, but to the south, and, simi- 
larly, they reverse the western way of ' boxing 
the compass,' and talk about west-north, east-south, 
etc., instead of north-west and south-east. I thought 
I should have burst with suppressed laughter the 
other day. Father took us to one of the hongs, or 
merchants' offices, and there we were introduced to 
some Chinese gentry. Of course Arthur and I took 
off our hats, bowed, and were ready to shake hands. 
But the Chinamen gravely put their hats on their 
heads, and then put their own hands together and 
moved them slowly up and down half-a-dozen 
times, after which they smiled bewitchingly on us, 



Customs in the Flowery Kingdom. 155 

and evidently thought they had done a most graceful 
act — as, of course, they had, according to their stand- 
ard of politeness. I missed Arthur almost immedi- 
ately, and found him outside the door, leaning up 
against the wall, with his soft hat stuffed in his 
mouth, and laughing — well, you know how Arthur 
laughs ! 

" They wear white instead of black for mourning ; 
the old men fly kites and the boys look on, as in 
Japan ; they whiten their shoes with chalk, instead of 
blackening them, and mount the off-side of a horse 
when they go riding. The men wear petticoats, 
while the women wear pantaloons ; and the dress- 
makers and milliners of China are men instead of 
women, as with us. Every man, nearly, carries a 
fan either in his hand or tucked in the collar of his 
dress behind his neck; while the Chinese women 
smoke on all occasions. 

" When a man has been injured by another, and 

desires revenge, instead of killing the offender he 

kills himself, because he believes that the man whom 

he hates will be held accountable for his death, and 

will be fearfully tormented by demons in this world 

and the next. The men take pride in wearing their 

hair as long as possible; but the women carefully 
10 



156 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

tuck theirs up. If a Chinaman wishes to especially 
honor any one he assigns him to a standing or sitting 
place on his left hand. 

" The day after we reached Canton father hired a 
native guide. His name is Muk-ti, and he calls him- 
self a ' number one top guide ' — or, as we would say, 
a first-rate guide. He assured me, privately, that he 
' savvied alio placee ploper,' and, so far, we have seen 
no reason to doubt him in this respect. He has been 
with us every-where, and though his English is of the 
' pidgin ' variety, he has proved an invaluable pilot 
and no mean protector. He really knows what ' is 
worth seeing, and how to see it without waste of 
time. He got Arthur and me out of an uncomfort- 
able scrape yesterday. 

" We had been strolling through the narrow, ban- 
ner-decked streets, and were standing in front of a 
silk weaver's, watching the workmen inside, when 
suddenly a din of gongs and tom-toms came from 
around the corner. 

" < What is it? ' we asked of Muk-ti. 

" ' One piecee man have makee die,' was the reply ; 
it was a funeral procession. On came the mourners, 
completely filling the narrow street. The crowd of 
pedestrians squeezed themselves into door-ways or 



Customs in the Flowery Kingdom. 157 



took refuge in shops, for the procession completely 
filled the roadway. We tried to do likewise, but 
before we could slip into an unoccupied nook the 
coffin and its attendants were upon us. In an instant 




CHINESE STANDARD. 



we were swept along by the crowd, and quite unex- 
pectedly found ourselves assisting at a Chinese fu- 
neral. For a minute or so we were too astonished 
to do aught but walk along behind the bier, and our 



158 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

presence was not noticed ; but suddenly, with a yell 
of ' Fan Jcwai / Fan Jcwai ! ' (foreign devils) half-a- 
dozen fellows with pig-tails sprang at us, and we 
were pretty roughly handled. Luckily up came 
Muk-ti, and a few minutes' chattering set matters 
straight again, the procession swept on, and we made 
our way home to repair damages. 

" The Chinese are tremendous gamblers ; even the 
children indulge. You will hear the clicking of dice 
at the corner stands where fruit, candy, and toys are 
sold. The children throw dice to see whether they 
are to lose the price of an article or get it for 
nothing. The revolving pointer that we see so often 
at home when the circus comes around is always 
spinning in China, only money is staked instead of 
pocket-knives, cheap jewelry, and trinkets, as with us. 
If the pointer stops over the division in the board 
whereon the gambler has placed his stake, he wins 
eight or sixteen times as much, according to the 
number of divisions in the board. 

" In the autumn two crickets are caught in the 
streets, placed in a tub of water, and tickled with a 
straw. So maddened do they become that they at- 
tack each other and fight to the death. Those who 
bet on the survivor win all the stakes. These are 



Customs in the Flowery Kingdom. 159 

only a few of the devices in vogue. Lotteries are in 
full swing all the year round. 

" This morning Muk-ti took us to the /a ehang, or 
execution ground. It is a blind alley, about ten 
yards wide and a hundred long. The entrance is not 
guarded by gates or any fence, for such is the super- 
stition of the natives that they shun it upon all occa- 
sions. But the promise of a dollar overcome Muk- 
ti's aversion, and he accompanied us cheerfully. In 
many places the ground bore dark-red stains, and 
ranged along one wall was a great heap of skulls — 
there must have been thousands of them — bleached 
to whiteness. Muk-ti had witnessed an execution, 
and thus described to us the mode of decapitation. 
The mandarin having arrived upon the ground, the 
sha-show, or executioner, produces a long, double- 
handed sword, of exceeding keenness. The jailers 
then bring in the condemned, who has his hands tied 
behind his back. He kneels, and is made to bow to 
the ground, with his forehead toward the north as a 
sign of homage to the emperor. When in the act of 
rising, the headsman strikes him on the back part of 
the neck with the sword, generally managing to sever 
the neck at one blow. 

"I mustn't forget to tell you about the 'hard- 



160 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

boiled eggs,' as Arthur calls them. I am free to con- 
fess that one of the greatest delicacies we have eaten 
in China are these same ducks-' eggs, boiled very 
hard, and black with antiquity — some say scores of 
years. Now, in America, we think an egg that has 
attained a certain age good for naught; not so the 
Chinese. By a peculiar process the Chinese preserve 
their eggs, and the older they are the better they 
like them — indeed, time is said to improve them. 
The epicure can distinguish between eggs of dif- 
ferent years' packings, and always takes pride in set- 
ting before his guests those of the greatest antiquity 
in his cellars. By the process in use, a solution of 
wood-ashes, lime, and salt is prepared, mixed with 
water in which some aromatic plant has been steeped. 
This paste is run into a tub, and the fresh eggs 
are therein imbedded in layers. The tub is then 
covered with an air-tight lid, and in forty days the 
eggs are fit for table use, but at the end of forty 
years they will taste much better. They become 
black throughout, owing to the action of the lime, 
but the white becomes like gelatine. Thus, you see, 
the Chinese have no conception of the delicate flavor 
of a soft-boiled new-laid egg, which is another of the 
contradictions of the Flowery Kingdom. 



Customs in the Flowery Kingdom. 161 

"While we were at Canton the great provincial 
examination, which occurs triennially, was going on, 
and the city was crowded with students from every 
corner of the province of Quang Tung. These com- 
petitive examinations are a great incentive to educa- 
tion. The enlightened class in China are the only 
ones who have any hope of governmental prefer- 
ment or honors. The whole empire is set off into 
provinces and districts, for each of which there are 
three separate examinations — district, provincial, and 
imperial — open to all, except the children of the 
criminal classes. The candidate for the lowest exam- 
ination of all must possess a certificate as to 
character from the local magistrate. At the stated 
time the youths flock by thousands to the capital city 
of the district, and are assigned subjects for an origi- 
nal essay and a poem. They are rigidly watched to 
see that no outside aid is obtained, and such is the 
standard required that but one in a hundred pass. 
The successful ones receive a degree of B. A. — 
< Beautiful Ability.' 

" Next comes the provincial examination, and only 
those are eligible who have passed the district compe- 
tition. Again the same ordeal is gone through with 
the same results — about one in a hundred manage to 



162 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

pass the censors. The victors receive another degree 
— A. M. — ' Advanced Men,' and become in turn can- 
didates for the last and highest examination at Peking, 
the capital of the empire. 

" Those who pass this final ordeal may consider 
their fortunes made. Rank, fortune, and social 
standing are the prizes won, and the successful stu- 
dent is esteemed an honor to his native place. 

" Of course, so many students being annually 
turned back, many times the number who succeed in 
getting through receive a pretty good educational 
training, and become highly intelligent citizens ; and, 
as may be supposed, so many young men striving 
for educational honors forms a sort of intellectual 
leaven throughout this vast empire. 

"As in Japan, so in China, Christian missionaries 
are laboring hard for the conversion of the natives. 
The Churches of both England and America have their 
emissaries scattered all over the land, and though prog- 
ress is necessarily slow, it is none the less sure. The 
Methodist Episcopal Church, the Protestant Episco- 
pal Church, and the Baptist Church are all at work 
here. At Canton a hospital was founded by the 
American Presbyterian Board, and in one year alone 
twenty-five thousand patients were treated. Thus the 



Customs in the Flowery Kingdom. 163 

healing of the soul and the healing of the body go 
hand in hand. 

" To-morrow we embark for Singapore, and when 
next I write I hope to have a fresh budget of 
news." 




164 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 



CHAPTEB XL 

A GREAT SURPRISE. 

IX days out from Hong-Kong, and 
again on a " P. and O." steamer, 
our party crossed the 180th me- 
iridian of longitude west (or east) 
from New York, whose people 
and houses were then immediately be- 
neath their feet. A few hours later they 
sailed into the harbor of Singapore, one of 
the important commercial cities of the far 
east, and the capital of the Straits Settlements. 

It is situated on an island at the extremity of the 
Malayan Peninsula, and is one of the oldest towns in 
this quarter of the globe, having been founded by 
the Malays in 1283. The Straits Settlements com- 
prise a dependency of the British Crown, and include 
Malacca, Penang, and Singapore, under a governor 
residing at the latter place. Singapore is a place of 
great importance, and is the stopping place for steam- 
ers bound from China to India or to Australia, or the 




A Great Surprise. 165 

reverse, besides possessing a large commerce of its 
own. 

Viewed from the harbor the shore scene is one of 
extreme beauty. 

" The Malays," said Mr. Elroy, " have a saying 
that if there is a paradise on earth it must be Singa- 
pore." 

On landing our voyagers found themselves at once 
amid all the loveliness of Oriental and tropical vege- 
tation. Plantations of cocoa-nut, banana, and many 
kinds of spices surround the city on three sides. 
The first-named fruit grows to an enormous size, 
being cultivated chiefly for its oil. 

On the morning after their arrival the boys and 
Mr. Elroy paid a hurried visit to a famous spicery, a 
few miles from town. 

The way lay through level roads, overshadowed by 
tamarind and palm trees, while fragrant airs from in- 
numerable sweet-smelling plants reached their nostrils 
from every side. Arrived at the plantation they found 
under the highest cultivation thousands of cinnamon, 
clove, pepper, cocoa-nut, nutmeg, and cassia trees, to 
say nothing of such fruits as the bread-fruit, mango, 
pine-apple, durian, jack-fruit, and custard-apple. 

On their return they visited the Royal Botanical 



166 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

Garden, over the gate of which is the singular in- 
scription : " Open only to subscribers and strangers," 
and where the display of orchids is particularly fine. 
Those accustomed only to the forests of the tem- 
perate zone can form no adequate idea of the lux- 
uriance of a real tropical jungle. On the outskirts 
of Singapore the boys came to a forest of gigantic 
trees, standing as close together as stalks in a wheat- 
field, and their trunks varying in diameter from two 
to six feet. These monarchs are branchless till near 
their tops, where they spread out into a compact fo- 
liage of dark green leaves. This canopy of leaves is 
closely woven together, and underneath grow shorter 
and more umbrageous trees ; while nearer yet to the 
steaming soil grow strange plants and ferns. But 
the distinguishing feature of the jungle is the mar- 
velous manner in which the whole mass is woven 
together by a net-work of creepers and parasites. 
Chief among the former is the ratan, pieces of which 
have been cut out nearly an inch in diameter and nearly 
three hundred feet in length. Some of the parasit- 
ical plants are nearly as thick as a man's body, and 
twine themselves spirally round the trunks of the 
larger trees, commencing at the bottom and reaching 
the top after seven or eight turns, from which they 



A Great Surprise. 



167 



frequently drop down again in straight columns to 
the ground, where they become attached, and again 
set out to girdle another tree. Gorgeous orchids, 




pitcher plants, and other beautiful but smaller 
growths, flourish on every foot of vacant space. 
But the pitcher plants excite the most surprise, and 
they are found in greater luxuriance in the jungles 
of Singapore than in any other part of the world. 



168 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

They place themselves in every imaginable position 
— in the clefts of trees some are to be seen — while 
others are within reach of the traveler, and always 
contain a good supply of pure wholesome water. 

Representatives of nearly every nation under the 
sun are to be met at Singapore, all attired in their 
own peculiar costume. As a result, the scene pre- 
sented in the public places is most animated, and to 
our travelers, fresh from the universal and everlast- 
ing blue cotton of China, particularly agreeable. 
There were English, French, and Germans ; Moham- 
medans, Malays, and Chinese ; Armenians, Benga- 
lese, and Turks, all moving about as though to the 
manor born. 

Perhaps of all the sights to be seen in this tropical 
city George and Arthur most enjoyed the antics of 
the harbor boys. These urchins seemed to be am- 
phibious, for half their existence was spent in the 
water diving for small coins tossed overboard by the 
passengers and crews of the numerous vessels. The 
harbor is many fathoms deep, yet rarely do the 
urchins fail to secure even the smallest piece of 
money. 

Although Singapore lies within one degree of the 
equator, the climate is most enjoyable. Tempered 



A Great Surprise. 169 

by sea-breezes and by frequent showers the tempera- 
ture rarely rises above 90 degrees, while 88 degrees 
is the average — not much above that of New York 
in summer. 

Mr. Elroy had planned to remain in Singapore 
only as long as the steamer halted — a matter of a day 
or two. But quite unexpectedly he found tele- 
graphic dispatches and letters awaiting him that 
completely changed his plans. 

Arthur had been lamenting the fact that their 
travels were now about half over, when his father, 
who was inditing some correspondence, spoke : 

" I am not sure that we shall see New York as 
soon as you appear to think. Eead that," handing 
Arthur a flimsy telegraphic dispatch. 

Arthur, with knitted brows, read half aloud : 

" Memory hardware embarrassment society opinion cheese parlia- 
ment embargo vermilion. 

"Chase, Melbourne." 

" What does it mean, father ? " the boys exclaimed, 
in one breath. 

Mr. Elroy, who had returned to bis correspond- 
ence, here looked up, and, observing the looks of 
blank amazement on his sons' faces, broke into a 
hearty laugh himself. 



170 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

" I beg your pardon, my dear boys ; I quite forgot 
the telegram was in cipher. Here, let me translate 
it for you. Briefly this dispatch tells me that, in- 
stead of proceeding direct to Bombay, there are af- 
fairs demanding my attention in quite another por- 
tion of the globe. The house has decided to estab- 
lish an agency in Melbourne, Australia, and I am 
deputed to arrange the necessary details. I am glad 
of this for many reason?. If all goes well, you will, 
by the time we turn our faces homeward, have trod- 
den each of the five great continents in turn — Amer- 
ica, Asia, Australia, Africa, and Europe." 

And then, seeing their father was busy, the two 
lads retired to discuss this pleasant change in their 
plans. 

" Did you ever see such a queer telegram as that ? " 
asked Arthur, after the subject had been thoroughly 
ventilated. 

" Never," replied George ; " but I have heard of 
' cipher dispatches,' though I don't see why they are 
used by business men. We must ask father to- 
night." 

Accordingly, after dinner, when sitting upon the 
veranda of their hotel, with the moonlit harbor 
beneath, Arthur opened the subject. 



A Great Surprise. 171 

" Father, wont you please tell ns something about 
cipher telegrams ? Why are they sent ? Why wont 
ordinary language do % I thought no one used a ci- 
pher except generals or cabinet ministers. Why — " 

"There, there, Arthur," put in Mr. Elroy, "you 
have given me nearly as many questions as were on 
that famous examination-paper of yours last summer. 
I don't know that I can answer them all, but, at any 
rate, I can tell you something about ' ciphers.' 

" The opening years of the second half of our cent- 
ury found the world in amazement over the then 
recent invention of telegraphy. Since that time the 
earth has been girdled with wires, and there is 
now scarcely any place of note unconnected by elec- 
tricity with the remotest seat of civilization. Myri- 
ads of messages were soon sent flying over the earth, 
or flashing under the sea ; the money kings and the 
monarchs of trade were quick to avail themselves of 
the new and speedier mode of controlling the world's 
markets, and soon became its best patrons. States- 
men and diplomats sat in their respective cabinets 
and received intelligence in one short hour that must 
formerly have taken weeks to reach them. 

"Immediately a new want made itself felt. Se- 
crecy had been sacrificed at the shrine of speed. If 
11 



172 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

the mail was slow it afforded privacy, but the con- 
tents of a telegraphic message are, of necessity, 
known to others besides the sender and the re- 
ceiver. So the minister, the banker, and the mer- 
chant soon began to send cipher dispatches. It was 
quickly discovered, however, that existing methods 
of cipher writing were unadapted to telegraphy ; the 
costliness of the new invention necessitated brevity ; 
and thus it was not long before there went whirling 
over the wire messages of ten words that, properly 
deciphered, included from thirty to fifty. 

"A great proportion of commercial messages — 
orders to buy and sell, and the like — are similar in 
their terms, and hence it is that a single word repre- 
senting three or four words in frequent use is the 
plan on which our present cable cryptography is 
based, whereby there is annually a large saving in 
expense. 

"Then, too, as trade increased, and competition 
became fierce, every firm wanted its own cipher sys- 
tem, distinct from any used by other houses in the 
same business; and reflection will enable you to 
appreciate the vast number of separate ciphers 
in use in a great commercial center like ~New York 
city. 



A Great Surprise. 173 

" Therefore, in course of time, the preparation of 
cipher systems for merchants and others using the 
telegraph largely has come to be a regular calling, 
and in every large city the sign ' Cable Codes ' is to 
be seen. At one of these offices we may be accom- 
modated with a code of from fifty to five thousand 
words at a cost of hundreds of cents or hundreds of 
dollars. 

" Most of these codes are alphabetically arranged 
in parallel columns, like shipping - signals — the En- 
glish words and phrases in one column, and their 
cipher equivalents in another. So, to make my 
meaning clear, you see that this telegram which so 
mystified you this afternoon contains just nine 
words. But, on turning to my key, I find that, 
when translated, it amounts to thirty-eight, and 
performs the double purpose of saving expense and 
preserving the plans of the firm from becoming 
public property." 

"When do we start for Australia?" inquired 
George, when his father had ended. 

"On Saturday — the day after to-morrow," an- 
swered Mr. Elroy. " Our route will take us through 
the heart of the ' Arches,' the sailor's name, you will 
remember, for the great East Indian Archipelago, 



174 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

and we shall touch at Batavia in the island of Java, 
and possibly at Port Moresby in the great island of 
Papua, or New Guinea. Thence the course lies down 
the eastern coast of the Australian continent to Port 
Philip Bay, at the head of which, on the Geelong 
River, stands the city of Melbourne." 

" I suppose we go by steamer ? " inquired Arthur. 

" Yes — by the City of Adelaide — though I am afraid 
she's but a slow tub, for I am told she takes nearly 
three weeks between Singapore and Melbourne, in- 
cluding, of course, the stoppages." 

" O, we are in no hurry — are we, George % " cheer- 
fully remarked Arthur. " For my part a sailing-ves- 
sel would please me best in going through the 
< Arches.'" 

" Well," rejoined Mr. Elroy, " while we are cer- 
tainly not running a race with the hours like your 
eccentric friend of Jules Yerne's famous book, yet I 
must beg you lads to remember that 'time is 
money ' to me, and I draw the line at sailing-vessels 
in latitudes like these, where the breezes are some- 
times exceedingly light and fickle." 

Nothing further of interest occurred during the 
remainder of the stay at Singapore, and both the 
boys devoted the intervening day to the compo- 



A Great Surprise. 



175 



sition of lengthy letters to friends and former 
school-mates at home, detailing at length the change 
in Mr. Elroy's plans, and their wonderful good 
fortune in being permitted to visit the Southern 
Hemisphere. 



176 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 



CHAPTER XII. 




CROSSING THE LINE. 

N a hot and cloudy morning in 
October, the City of Adelaide 
steamed slowly out of the harbor 
of Singapore, and turned her 
prow almost due south. Rain 
had fallen copiously during the previ- 
ous night, and from the thick forests, 
gardens, and plantations surrounding the city, 
rank moisture ascended in clouds. But after run- 
ning a few miles the sun pierced the vapors and 
shone down in tropical heat and splendor. The 
warmth was oppressive. Though the decks were 
screened by awnings, the pitch oozed from the seams 
and the hot metal work seared the touch. Rugs 
were brought up and flung down in cool corners, for 
to think of entering the cabin except for meals was 
out of the question. 

Singapore, as has been said, lies about one degree 
north of the equator (a degree of latitude is about 



Crossing the Lvne. 177 

sixty-eight miles), and while the day was yet young 
the mysterious line with which geographers girdle 
our planet was crossed by the City of Adelaide. 

Time was when the event would have been made 
the occasion of some curious and outlandish ceremo- 
nies ; but nowadays, such is the vast extent of the 
world's commerce, that steamers and sailing-vessels 
by hundreds are "crossing the line" every day in 
the year. No notice was taken of the event on the 
steamer that was bearing our friends southward, save 
by an entry on the log, stating the hour and the lon- 
gitude at the time of the occurrence. 

In days long syne this event was often anticipated 
on shipboard as a pleasant break to the monotony of 
a long sea-voyage. Mysterious preparations went on 
right under the officers' noses, who were discreetly 
blind. Sly nods and winks were passed around 
among those of the crew who had " been there be- 
fore," and the leaders were kept posted as to the 
ship's position from day to day. Sometimes the 
momentous spot would be reached amid the darkness 
of night, when the ceremonies would be deferred till 
the next day. 

Precisely at " eight bells " — twelve o'clock noon — 
the ship would be hove to, the lower sails would be 



178 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

brailed up so as to give an unobstructed view of the 
decks, and the capstan would be draped with bunt- 
ing. Out of their gloomy quarters in the forecastle 
would troop the brawny crew, newly shaven and 
washed, ranging themselves in a picturesque group 
around the foot of the main-mast. 

Suddenly the blast of a fog horn somewhere be- 
yond the ship's bows would pierce the air, followed 
by a hoarse hailing of the ship by name. A dozen 
sailors spring for the bows, and in a few minutes 
there emerges over the bulwarks a hairy, dripping 
figure, hearing a huge trident. Attended by a body- 
guard, Neptune — for it is none other than the rugged 
sea-god — steps to the capstan, whereon he is en- 
throned. 

At this stage of the ceremonies the captain and 
officers come to the rail of the poop, ready to be in- 
terrogated by " his majesty." After satisfying the 
inquiries of the royal visitor as to the name of the 
vessel and of her captain, her destination and cargo, 
and after a satisfactory amount of tribute has been 
promised in the shape of " duff " for dinner and 
" grog " for " all hands," the real fun begins. 

Fiddles are brought out, and while they are being 
scraped, those of the crew who have never " crossed 



Crossing the Line. 179 

the line " are brought on deck to pay their respects 
to the hairy sea-god. They are subjected to such 
pleasantries as being lathered with a slush brush and 
shaved with a rusty iron hoop, or being suddenly 
doused with a bucket of slops cunningly placed in 
the rigging overhead. Though most of the men 
have seen or participated in these time-worn jokes 
often before, their merriment is unbounded at the 
fruitless struggles and sputterings of the luckless cap- 
tive, who is only released on payment of his " foot- 
ing." After a hornpipe to the sound of the fiddles, a 
couple of hours having been consumed in these rude 
diversions, sail is made once more, and the good ship 
proceeds on her course. 

Such things were, we have said. In these days 
of iron, coal, and steam such antiquated usages of 
the sea are fast going out of date, and a simple log- 
jotting is about all the notice now taken of " crossing 
the line." 

For four days and three nights, as the City of 
Adelaide sped over the placid waters of the land- 
locked Java Sea, the blue uplands of eastern Suma- 
tra or the hilly outlines of Banca and Billiton were 
scarcely ever out of sight. At night, too, strange 
constellations were now coming into view. Ever 



180 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

since leaving Hong-Kong the old familiar groups of 
stars had been sinking lower and lower toward the 
northern horizon, while the Southern Cross, the most 
conspicuous group of stars in the southern hem- 

* isphere, rose higher and higher over 
^ * the steamer's prow. This glorious con- 
stellation consists of four stars of sur- 

* passing brilliancy, and disposed in cru- 

THE SOUTHERN .» ^ 

cross. citorm order. Except m regions very 
near the equator this constellation is never seen in the 
northern hemisphere. The two stars which form the 
base and summit of the cross are very nearly perpen- 
dicular, and serve as pointers to the South Pole. On 
successive nights the ship's officers pointed out to our 
boys the different groups of brilliant stars known as 
"the Water Snake," "the Indian," "the Easel," 
" the Clock," and " the Southern Triangle." 

" I never could understand why stars are grouped 
and called by such funny names," said Arthur, as, 
in company with George and his father, he stood 
admiring the heavenly expanse of the tropical 
night. 

" From time immemorial," said Mr. Elroy, " it 
has been the practice of astronomers, for the purpose 
of identification, to form the stars into artificial 



Crossing the Line. 181 

groups which received the name ' constellation ' from 
the Latin co?i, together, and stella, a star. They are 
represented on celestial charts by figures of men, 
animals, or other objects, to the outlines of which a 
fancied resemblance was traced. Before the inven- 
tion of almanacs the rising and setting of the various 
constellations were looked to by farmers, shepherds, 
and sailors as the harbingers of the seasons, and 
also of the weather which each season was expected 
to bring with it. Of course* many of these supposed 
indications had no basis in fact, and the fancied in- 
fluence of the stars on the weather was wholly im- 
aginary. Thus, the risings and settings of Bootes 
w T ith the great star Arcturus, which took place about 
the time of the equinoxes, betokened the advent of 
great tempests. The intense heat of July was as- 
cribed to the rising of Canis, the dog, with its bright 
star, Sirius, whence our colloquial term " dog-days." 
The appearance of Castor and Pollux in the summer 
skies portended fair weather. Of course the several 
constellations had nothing "to do with the kind of 
weather that attended their appearance or disap- 
pearance. We are wiser now, and know that the 
changes in our atmosphere are entirely independent 
of a star hundreds of millions of miles distant. You 



182 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

now have a simple explanation, Arthur, of what has 
often puzzled older heads than yours." 

" Then, I suppose, all those yarns the old astrolo- 
gers used to tell about men's lives being ruled, or 
dominated, by the stars and planets were equally un- 
true \ " inquired George. 

" Every word of them," replied his father. " Our 
lives are in the hand of One who majestically rules 
the suns and the stars which he has placed in his 
firmament." 

" Amen to that ! " exclaimed a voice at their side ; 
and, turning, they beheld Captain Turner, the master 
of the City of Adelaide. 

" I did not know you had been listening to our 
school-book conversation," said Mr. Elroy, laughing; 
" but you are just in the nick of time all the same. 
I have been wondering for the last half -hour what 
that light can be nearly abreast of us off the land. 
Is it a light-house ? " 

The City of Adelaide was then abreast of the isl- 
and of Banca, famed for its mines of tin, whose 
product is the best in the world. 

" Ah, my dear sir, that light revives some not very 
pleasant reminiscences," rejoined the captain. " In 
a little cove or inlet behind that beacon there once 



Crossing the Line. 183 

existed a nest of the bloodiest and most rapacious 
pirates that ever infested Eastern waters, and that is 
saying much. In ten years it was estimated that 
they had attacked, robbed, scuttled, and burned up- 
ward of two hundred European ' vessels, and mur- 
dered nearly two thousand souls in cold blood. They 
were commanded by a fiend, who had once been an 
English man-of-war's man ; he was flogged for some 
serious breach of discipline, deserted, and vowed 
vengeance against all ships bearing the flag he had 
disgraced, though the craft of other nations suffered 
as well. He and his band of Malay cut-throats were 
finally extirpated by British gun-boats, and the Dutch 
Government set up that beacon to mark the spot. 
But all this happened near a score of years ago." 

" I infer that at some portion of your sea-faring 
career you made the acquaintance of this ruffian," 
inquired Mr. Elroy. 

" Yes, sir. To him I am indebted for one of the 
most thrilling episodes in my career, and for this 
scar" — raising his naval cap and disclosing a mark 
on the temple that shone livid in the moonlight. 

"Was it a battle with the pirates?" inquired Ar- 
thur, all aglow. 

" Yes, my lad, it was — as tough a tussle as ever I 



1 84 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn, 

was engaged in," replied Captain Turner. " And it 
came near costing me my ship, too," he added. 

" O, wont you please tell us all about it % " begged 
Arthur. " I never came so near making the acquaint- 
ance of a real pirate before." 

When to Arthur's entreaties were added those of 
George and Mr. Elroy, the captain consented. The 
decks were deserted save by the helmsman, the officer 
of rfie deck, and the lookout in the bows. Overhead 
the moon swam in a sea of dark blue with a radiance 
seen only in tropic climes, while the stars were large 
as young moons. 

With a little group of interested auditors about 
him Captain Turner thus began his story : 

"In the year 1860 I commanded the brig Charger ', 
hailing from and owned by a firm in Malacca. We 
were returning from a trading voyage to the islands 
of the Archipelago, laden with horns, ebony, ivory, 
skins, and gutta-percha. The trip had been very suc- 
cessful, and the varied assortment of 'Brummagem' 
hardware, jewelry, beads, and mirrors that we had 
carried on our outward trip had all been exchanged 
for the far more valuable commodities that filled the 
Charger's hold flush with the hatches. 

" Besides my wife and a crew of nine men we had 



Crossing the Line, 185 

on board the wrecked passengers of the ship Cormo- 
rant, to the number of eleven — seven men and four 
women — their vessel having gone ashore in the Sun- 
da Strait ; so, as you may guess, we were pretty well 
crowded in the cabins aft. 

"We touched at Batavia for water and supplies, 
after which our course lay over the same route as 
we are now on, save that the Charger was bound 
north while we are going south. The sixth day 
out found us becalmed with the coast of Banca 
distant about ten miles off the port bow. All 
that day and the next night the canvas napped idly 
against the masts. Daybreak revealed the presence 
of another craft between us and the shore, and be- 
calmed as were we. She was about five miles distant, 
and appeared to be a big native lateener, with three 
tall raking masts and rows of seats under the low 
bulwarks for at least a dozen oars of a side. 

" What puzzled me was, how she had managed to 
creep up in the night. I could only account for it 
by allowing that she had caught a few light airs that 
a heavy boat like the Charger would not feel. But 
what troubled me more was the stranger's appear- 
ance. Her rig told me nothing — it might be that 
of a peaceful trader or that of the most blood-thirsty 



186 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

pirate afloat. This was my first voyage to the east of 
Sumatra — on the outward voyage we had descended 
the west coast — and while I knew enough to keep a 
sharp lookout for piratical craft in these waters, I 
was not sure of the precise spot where they might 
appear. 

"All that morning the calm continued, and we 
kept a close watch on the stranger. Our ensign was at 
the peak, but hung in folds up and down the halliards, 
so that it would not aid the lateener to discover our 
nationality. By means of one of those mysterious 
currents or eddies so plentiful in the Java Sea the 
two vessels had been gradually nearing each other, 
and at eight bells they were scarcely a league distant. 
So far as I could discern there was not a sign of life 
aboard the stranger, though this of itself was no cause 
for suspicion. 

" Dinner was duly announced by the steward, so I 
went below, leaving the mate in charge of the deck. 
I had not been ten minutes at the table when he put 
his head in at the open skylight, and said : 

" ' Captain Turner, the lateener has gotten out his 
oars, and is bearing down on us.' 

" I sprang on deck, and a glance shoreward told me 
that this was true. One of two things was now evi- 



Crossing the Line. 187 

dent : the errand must be an urgent one that would 
cause them to row such a large boat for a league 
under a midday tropical sun, so either they wanted to 
trade or their mission was a less peaceful one. 

" Any way, it was well to be prepared. All hands 
were called on deck, and I made a short speech to 
the men, detailing my suspicions that the lateener 
was after no. good, and telling them that with their 
help I meant to fight the ship if, as I suspected, the 
approaching craft turned out to be a pirate. They 
all vowed to stick by me, and the seven passen- 
gers were like-minded, so altogether we mustered a 
force of seventeen men besides the cook and the 
steward. 

"Whatever was done needed to be accomplished 
promptly. The ladies were conducted to my cabin 
and locked in ; all the revolvers and rifles on board 
were loaded ; each of the sailors carried a dirk ; and 
a few hatchets were mustered out of the ship's stores. 

" Scarcely were these hasty preparations made 
when the boatswain sung out: 

" ' They've got their boats overboard ! 

" I looked, and, sure enough, there were two boats, 
each holding about twenty men, in the act of casting 

off from the lateener's side, now distant about a mile. 

12 



188 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

With my glass I could see they were armed to the 
teeth, while each boat carried a small howitzer in her 
bows. 

" Unluckily we carried no cannon, with which we 
might have sunk the approaching boats before they 
could get aboard us, so we were forced to wait till 
they came within hailing distance. "When about an 
eighth of a mile separated us I sprung on the bulwark 
and hailed them. But not a word of answer did I 
get. On they came, side by side, rowing like clock- 
work, one boat heading for our bows, and another 
for our stern. 

" Suddenly there belched forth two naming tongues 
of fire from the throats of the two howitzers. Both 
balls went wide of the mark, and splashed up the 
water ahead and astern of the Charger. This was all 
we wanted. The lateener was a pirate, and every 
Jack aboard must fight for his life and for the 
women below the deck. On they came, but the how- 
itzers did not bark any more — the distance was now 
so short that it was hardly worth while to load and 
lire. 

" I divided the force at my disposal into two par- 
ties, stationing one at the bows under command of 
the mate, and the other with me in the waist. One 



Crossing the Line. 1S9 

of the boats now fell back a little, allowing the other, 
commanded, as I judged, by the pirate captain, to 
forge ahead. The plan of attack was now perfectly 
clear. The leading boat would board the brig nearly 
amidships, and under cover of this surprise the second 
party calculated to scramble over the bows and over- 
whelm us. 

" But luckily I had disposed my men to anticipate 
this, though the odds were two to one. How de- 
voutly I longed for wind only those who have been 
in a similar predicament can imagine. A hurried 
glance around the horizon revealed a sea like glass, 
unruffled by a catspaw. 

" Scarcely five minutes had elapsed from the firing 
of the first shot when the leading boat was upon the 
brig. 

" ' Fire at them as they climb over the bulwarks ! ' 
was my command, and in an instant thereafter we 
were engaged in a hand-to-hand battle with the des- 
peradoes. The captain of the lateener was among the 
first to reach our deck, and instinctively he and I 
sought each other out. At it we went, hammer and 
tongs. He fired his pistol full in my face, but the 
flame only singed my hair. Then, drawing his cut- 
lass, he made a lunge for me which I parried, and I 



190 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

have always flattered myself that it was give and take 
between us two. 

"A hurried glance around showed me that we 
were at least holding our own against the first boat- 
load, but I momentarily expected to hear the shouts 
of the second party as they gained the forecastle. 
Instead, high above the din of the conflict in which 
we were engaged, I heard a mighty crash, followed 
by a babel of shrieks and yells, and appeals for help 
right along-side. 

" I learned later that the plucky mate had loosened^ 
the great anchor that swung at the brig's bow, and, 
at the instant that the second boat hooked on to our 
side, let it fall fair amid-ships in the pirate boat, the 
ton of iron breaking the frail craft in two, maiming 
many of its freight, and plunging all into the sea. 

" My antagonist heard the appalling cry, and, with 
a parting sweep of his cutlass, retreated to the re- 
maining boat, which wobbled peacefully along-side. 
He was followed by those of his crew who had not 
fallen in the fight. They regained their boat, picked 
up a number of their comrades, and, instead of re» 
turning to the attack, as I half feared they would, 
made for the lateener amid a shower of bullets from 
the Charger, 



Crossing the Line. 191 

" A sudden f aintness came over me, and then it 
was that I discovered for the first time that I was 
wounded. A cutlass stroke had laid bare the bone 
on this left temple, but a little doctoring soon set, 
me on my feet again, and we began to look about us 
and count our losses. On our side two of the crew 
were dead, and eleven of us had cuts or wounds to 
show as mementos of the fight, while in their hur- 
ried retreat the pirates had left behind them the 
bodies of four of their comrades. 

" We watched the pirates' boat uutil it reached the 
lateener, expecting that another attack would be 
made; but a breeze springing up, we made sail, and 
soon left our enemy astern. The bodies of the slain 
were buried that night, and a week later we dropped 
anchor in Malacca Roads." 

"Did you ever see the pirate captain again?" in- 
quired George. 

" Yes, I was present at his trial at Singapore, after 
his capture by the British gun-boat. This was more 
than two years after the affair on board the Charger. 
He had attacked a large ship, murdered the crew, 
carried off some of the passengers, and scuttled the 
ship, after looting her. For this special offense it 
was that he was convicted and condemned to death, 



192 



The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 



though there were a dozen other charges against 
him. I was present merely out of curiosity, and had 
no part in the proceedings." 

On the sixth of October the City of Adelaide 
came to anchor in the small but beautiful harbor 
at the mouth of the Jakatra River, on the north coast 
of the island of Java, where lies Batavia. A halt of 
two or three days was to be made here for the pur- 
pose of transferring and receiving freight, and, as 
Mr. Elroy had no business to transact, the boys 
looked forward with delight to enjoying his com- 
pany in many delightful rambles about this quaint 
place and its environs. 




A Run Ashore at Batavia. 



193 



OHAPTEE Xni. 




A RUN ASHORE AT BATAVIA. 

'AT A VI A is the capital of the 
Netherlands Indies, and is the 
great commercial emporium of 
the ]^[alay Archipelago. The 
natives long had a settlement here, but the 
Dutch established themselves on the site in 
1619, made it the capital of their posses- 
sions in the East, and named it Batavia, in 
memory of the tribe of Batavi, who inhabited Hol- 
land in the time of Caesar. It is a place of great 
importance and much beauty, though at one time it 
attained an unenviable notoriety as the grave of 
Europeans owing to its pestilential climate and ex- 
treme unhealthiness. 

The city has been described as " Holland in minia- 
ture." The Malays dug canals, and the Dutch also 
dug canals, and so Batavia, though bowered in tropi- 
ical verdure, insensibly reminds one of the dikes and 
water streets of the Dutch fatherland. Some of the 



194 



The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 



streets have horse railroads, and a steam railroad con- 
nects with Buitenzorg. 

Batavia consists of an old town and a new town. 
The former is the native quarter, built on mud flats 
at the harbor side, with narrow winding lanes, and 




A MAXGROVE SWAMP. 



where the inhabitants pack themselves away in bam- 
boo huts planted as closely as tea-chests in a ware- 
house. Every- where a putrid and disgusting smell 



A Bun Ashore at Batavia. 195 

reigns. The sea-breezes occasionally waft it far 
inland, and it rises from the mangrove swamps and 
noxious shrubs that line the shore. The rising tide 
swells their knotted, gnarled, and spongy roots so 
that they swell and burst ; the receding flood leaves 
them exposed on an expanse of sticky mud ; the sun 
pours down, evaporates the moisture, and the winds 
scatter it, the process being repeated every day. It 
is these deadly miasmas that have justly given to 
Batavia its general reputation for insalubrity. But 
all this was only seen by our travelers after investi- 
gation and inspection. After landing from the 
steamer they were driven straight to the new towm 

Under the great shed of the custom-house they 
took some charming little open carriages, for no 
European or American goes afoot in Java. Each 
carriage was drawn by ponies hardly larger than 
Saint Bernard dogs, and which are caught on the 
island of Timor. They travel at a hand-gallop al- 
ways, and are urged on with whip and yell by Malay 
coachmen wearing enormous yellow-and-red-striped 
hats shaped like a bell-glass, which serve to shade 
them entirely from the sun. 

Only a glimpse in passing was obtained of the old 
town of Batavia, in whose narrow lanes so many 



196 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn, 

Dutch factors strove for wealth in the seventeenth 
and eighteenth centuries. Past quaint-looking gable 
ends they sped for more than half an hour, crossing 
innumerable canals on which lazily moved the na- 
tive piroque, and in which scores of natives were 
indulging in the luxury of a bath. Groups of gaud- 
ily attired native horse soldiery clattered by, their 
long swords trailing on the ground ; oth ers, no less 
gorgeously dressed, wore silver spurs on their naked 
feet, while their slender spears touched the plumes of 
the cocoa-nut trees overhead ; itinerant merchants 
wearing a narrow sash of bright ribbon trotted along, 
shouting their wares to the passers-by; while here 
and there might be seen a solitary European lan- 
guidly strolling, clad in loose white garments and 
nourishing a huge palm-leaf fan. As an animated 
out-of-door scene this panorama far exceeded that 
on the Tokaida in Japan. 

At length, crossing a bamboo bridge, they were 
informed that they were in Batavia proper, though 
they would not have realized the fact had they not 
been so informed, for the city is completely embow- 
ered in trees. There are no streets in Batavia, as we 
understand the name, but instead magnificent ave- 
nues bordered with the most beautiful and luxuriant 



A Run Ashore at Batavia. 197 

trees. The burniDg rays of the pitiless tropic sun 
can only pierce this screen of foliage here and there, 
but nevertheless flowers of marvelous hue every- 
where carpet the borders of these forest streets. A 
glimpse of a house, a chimney, or a veranda, seen 
through the foliage, is the only indication that man- 
kind dwell hereabouts. 

But after all, these great avenues are only the land 
routes to the canals or " arroyos,'' which the Dutch 
and the Malays have formed by hundreds, and which 
are the real arteries by which circulates their whole 
commercial life. 

" I remember reading once," said Mr. Elroy, dur- 
ing this drive, " that in respect to these canals, ' the 
instincts of the white race from the North and of the 
yellow race from the South coincided — the greatest 
navigators and the greatest pirates of this part of the 
globe cut up their soil into innumerable islets,' and it 
seems to be so." 

On account of the deadly miasmas that rise from 
the shore at night Mr. Elroy decided to make the 
Hotel Nederlanden their head-quarters while on 
shore, though they might have stayed on the steamer 
had they been so minded. So to the above hostelry 
they gave orders to be driven. 



198 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

This hotel is in the center of Batavia, is sur- 
rounded by the white palaces of the East Indian 
nabobs, and is itself situated in the midst of a blos- 
soming wood. The chief structure was of marble, 
surrounded by a great veranda, and pierced by a 
multitude of windows. One side of the hotel faced 
the cool -looking canal. As they drove up to the 
main entrance at a swinging pace the boys noticed a 
great open dome, supported on slender pillars, open 
on all sides, and containing many tables. They were 
told that this was the hotel dining-room, and fully a 
hundred Malay waiters were flitting about " laying 
the cloth," whose dress consisted of red cotton or 
silk tunics, blue turbans, and yellow silk sashes. 

Before leaving the steamer Captain Turner had 
said : 

" When you reach the hotel tell them you want a 
bath. You wont feel comfortable till you have had 
one." 

So in less than a quarter of an hour after reaching 
the Nederlanden our trio were indulging in the lux- 
ury of a bath, administered in a novel way. 

Traversing a long colonnade, and descending a 
flight of white marble steps, they found themselves 
on the margin of half a dozen marble basins, filled with 



A Run Ashore at Batavia. 199 

the coolest and most transparent water, and were soon 
enjoying a shower-bath, the torrent being pumped 
by a Malay up to the ceiling, whence it fell in cool- 
ing spray on the heads and bodies of the bathers. 
When each signified his readiness to resume his 
clothes four obsequious natives approached and en- 
veloped him in the softest of towels, while a fifth 
presented a basket of tropical fruit. 

Dinner in the kiosk followed, which was lighted 
by hundreds of lanterns, while from the garden be- 
neath floated the strains of sweetest music. A dozen 
men hovered around each chair, eager and willing to 
minister to the comfort of our travelers, while the 
variety of dishes would fill a page. But of the 
perils of incautious eating in this treacherous climate 
Mr. Elroy had been duly warned. Only that morn- 
ing a foreigner had partaken too freely of mangoes 
and pine-apples. As they passed in to dinner his 
funeral cortege passed out of the main entrance of 
the hotel ! 

Fresh surprises awaited our travelers on being 
shown to their bedrooms for the night. Mosquito 
nettings they had made acquaintance with at Singa- 
pore, but in Batavia they found the beds were made 
with mats instead of sheets. But what excited their 



200 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

curiosity and their laughter most was a roll of grass 
matting, six feet long, and as thick as an ordinary 
bolster, laid lengthwise of the bed. In explanation 
they were gravely informed that in Java no one 
thinks of going to sleep without one of these 
grass bolsters placed between the legs to cool the 
body. 

" I say, George," burst out Arthur, when the Ma- 
lay had retired, " what a pillow fight ther'd be if we 
had a few of these things in the dormitory at old 
Everett ! " 

No doubt, had their stay in Java been prolonged, 
they might have come to appreciate the above 
strange custom ; but Mr. Elroy, when questioned by 
the boys the following morning, frankly owned that 
he had used his bolster to prop up his feet with ! 

Life in Batavia begins at half-past four in the 
morning. At that hour old and young rise from 
their beds and, hasten to the various pools to bathe, 
Next comes a brisk walk, another bath, and an appe- 
tizing breakfast. Those who have business to trans- 
act do it before this meal. From eleven till five 
every one sleeps. About six o'clock in the evening 
humanity again bestirs itself. Hundreds of open 
carriages drive about ; Europeans, bareheaded, saun- 



A Run Ashore at Batavia. 201 

ter to the " Rotten Row of Batavia," the Waterloo 
Plain, where a superb military band plays daily; 
here assemble the wealth and fashion of the colony, 
and here the officers' brilliant uniforms and the Eu- 
ropean toilets of the ladies contrast pleasantly with 
the gala attire of the Javanese, who far outnumber 
the foreigners. 

The daily promenade is followed by dinner, after 
which social calls are made, and a long evening 
finally leads up to bed-time once more. 

Our travelers went rigidly through this programme 
as though they were Batavians at heart ; but in real- 
ity it was the best means of seeing life as it really is 
in the colony. 

On the second morning they paid a visit to the 
native quarter of the town, where are the native in- 
dustries. The shops are of two kinds — those kept by 
Malays and those kept by Chinese. The principal 
commodities for sale in the former are cotton prints 
and greasy sweetmeats ; the wares in the Chinese 
shops are of a far superior kind. Here is a Chinese 
watch-maker, with glass in eye, and his face contorted 
into a hideous grimace ; next door to him is a mon- 
key-dealer's booth, while directly opposite are for sale 
various preparations of capsicums, fifty different kinds 



202 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 



of which grow on the island ; next to this is an em- 
porium of dress fabrics of the costliest character; 
then come a butcher's shop, a bird fancier's, and a 
shop full of objects of art. A furious din assails 
the ear, and pungent stenches offend the sense of 
smell. The wonder is that even the natives can live 
in such an atmosphere. 




BANANA-TREE. 



But while much has been done recently to im- 
prove, by means of improved drainage, the newer 



A Bun Ashore at JBatavia. 203 

portions of Batavia, the native portion still maintains 
its unsavory character. 

The luxuriance of the Javan vegetation excels that 
of any other spot in the East. Great banyan-trees, 
one of them alone forming a forest ; hundreds of 
creepers swaying in the wind ; the many plumes of 
the cocoa-nut-tree ; bananas, with their green leaves 
as long as a man is tall ; the slender tulip-tree all 
a-bloom ; cotton-trees enveloped in snow-white balls ; 
the traveler's palm-tree, yielding yard-broad fan- 
leaves, and a stream of milky fluid when pierced ; 
the breadfruit-tree; the mango, the pineapple, the 
mangosteen — all flourish and bloom with the utmost 
profusion in Java, and embower the dwellings of the 
Batavian nabobs in their emerald embrace. 

At day-break, on the third morning after their 
arrival, the City of Adelaide turned her prow once 
more toward the open sea, en route for coral seas and 
for the waters of the Pacific, again — this time south 
of the Line. 

" What a paradise ! " exclaimed George, as they 
stood on the deck looking at the bower-margined 
harbor, the tops of the trees just gilded by the rising 
sun, while the night's heavy dew glistened, jewel- 
like, on every leaf and blossom. 
13 



204 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

" Yes, indeed," rejoined his father. " And yet, 
with all its tropical beauty, all its languor of exist- 
ence, I would not live there in preference to 
our own climate, rude and rugged though it some- 
times be." 

" Nor I," echoed his sons. 




Among the "Arches" 



205 



CHAPTER XIY. 

AMONG THE "ARCHES." 

ND now they were indeed in tropic 

For over a thousand miles 

the course lay just under the 

equator, among islands of every 

imaginable size, and nearly all of 

surpassing loveliness. Far toward the north 

stretched Borneo and Papua, the latter the 

largest island in the world after continental 

Australia. 

The very nomenclature of these seas seems fraught 
with memories of strange and moving tales of ad- 
venture, and the boys spent many an hour hanging 
over a great chart whereon the course was " pricked " 
from day to day. Bali and Celebes, Banda and Flores, 
Timor and Lombok, are names redolent of the strange 
witchery that pertains to these parts. 

The navigation is excessively difficult and tort- 
uous, owing to the presence of numerous coral reefs. 
But in all the wide area between Java and the 




206 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

tenth degree of north latitude none of the frightful 
gales known as " cyclones " in the Bay of Bengal, 
and as "typhoons" in the China Sea, are ever ex- 
perienced. The chief sources of anxiety to the navi- 
gator in the Java Sea are strong currents and coral 
reefs. 

Many of the islands hereabouts are entirely of coral 
formation. So vast and so various are the results of 
the labors of the tiny polyps that this part of the 
Pacific is aptly named the Coral Sea. 

One day the boys were summoned on deck to wit- 
ness a beautiful sight — a coral ring, or " atoll," or 
circular island. 

At the distance of less than a mile there lay a 
nearly spherical fringe of coral, rising perhaps ten 
feet above the placid sea, and on which a few palms 
and other tropical verdure had found foothold. On 
the outer reef a fringe of white surf beat lazily 
against the sharp rock ; while within the water was 
as motionless as the face of a mirror, and on its bo- 
som a small trading schooner lay quietly moored. A 
single gap in the circle of rock a few yards wide was 
the only break that marred the ring-like circle of 
coral. The island looked like a fairy ring floating on 
the ocean's bosom. 



Among the "Arches" 



207 



"I have often read of these atolls," said Arthur, 
when the low -lying fringe of coral had faded from 
sight astern, " but never could understand how they 
are formed. Does any one know ? " 

"Well, my lad," said Captain Turner, thus ap- 
pealed to, "we sailors pick up a deal of scientific 




AN ATOLL, OR CORAL RING. 



information, one way and another, and perhaps I can 
tell you something about these coral rings. 

" I haven't time to tell you about the habits of the 
coral builders, and their growth, short life, and death. 
What you don't know about that I dare say your 
father can tell you better than I. 



208 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

" You know, there are hills and valleys on the floor 
of the ocean as well as on the land. Well, a colony of 
polyps settles on the sides of one of these hills, and 
begins to grow and spread all around it. They will 
increase and multiply and build until a circular wall 
extends all round the hill. As the coral wall grows 
the lower polyps and the inner ones die, their skel- 
etons forming a solid foundation for all that grow 
above them. Oftentimes there is not more than an 
inch of living coral on the outside of a reef. 

" The wall rises nearly straight, and, of course, in 
so doing it incloses a circular sheet of water. Then 
comes a lifting of the bed of the ocean, and with it 
the top of the circular reef is thrust above the waves, 
and thus the lagoon is made. This must be the case, 
for the coral polyps only work under water." 

Here the captain was called away, and the boys, 
turning to Mr. Elroy, requested him to pick up the 
thread of Captain Turner's discourse. 

As usual, however, Arthur had a question to ask : 
" Father, I have read that no coral polyps can live at 
a greater depth than from twenty to thirty fathoms, 
and yet Captain Turner mentioned coral reefs that 
extend to a depth of three hundred feet below the 
surface of the sea. How can that be ? " 



Among the "Arches." 209 

" The explanation is quite simple, though for many 
years it puzzled scientists. The late Charles Darwin 
was the first to prove that coral islands occur where 
there has been a gradual sinking of the bed of the 
ocean. Of course, as the reef grows in height the 
sinking of the foundation in some measure offsets the 
upward growth of the coral, the proper depth of 
water is maintained, and though to an observer the 
reef would appear to be stationary, it would in reality 
be growing upward." 

" The books I have read do not explain how so 
insignificant a creature can build sufficiently strong 
to lay the foundation of islands and even parts of 
continents. I believe Florida is formed of coral reefs. 
Am I right % " inquired George. 

"Perfectly. But you must know that there are 
various kinds of coral workers. The bottom of the 
wall is built of brain coral, or other solid varieties, 
whose home is at greater depths, and who die when a 
certain distance from the surface is attained. Then 
come the branching corals, who again can only exist 
at lesser depths, and they settle upon and finish the 
structure. The reef, or island formed of the slender 
branching coral, is far stronger than we might sup- 
pose, and in their growth the branches are closely 



210 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

interlocked. Then again their interstices become 
packed with broken coral detached by the breakers 
and with various substances floating in the ocean, the 
whole being compacted into a solid mass firmer than 
any masonry raised by men." 




"But how do earth and plants and trees reach these 
coral reefs ? " inquired Arthur. 

" When once the surface is reached the remainder 
of the island is composed of shells, pieces of broken 
coral, drift-wood, sea-weed, and many other floating 
substances from neighboring shores. By the action 
of the waves, ceaselessly grinding at the surface, these 



Among the "Arches" 211 

materials are ground up to the fineness of sand, and 
then our island is ready to receive vegetation, and 
any seeds that may be wafted thither by the winds 
or the waves, or dropped by birds, find lodgment 
and speedily germinate, favored by heat and constant 
moisture. Floating cocoa-nuts abound in these waters, 
and the cocoa-nut palm is generally the first tree to 
rear its feathery head toward heaven. 

" In course of time the leaves, fruit, and branches 
fall and decay, the soil becomes enriched by degrees, 
and thus the once-barren rock becomes fitted for the 
abode of animals and even for man." 

"How is the peopling of this archipelago explained, 
father ? " inquired Arthur. " The inhabitants are all 
of the Malay race, I believe." 

"Yes;. it is believed that the men who first peopled 
the Pacific islands came from the main-land of south- 
eastern Asia. Their appearance, language, and cer- 
tain of their customs justify this view. Cases are 
numerous of canoes being carried to long distances 
in these seas — a Japanese junk was once drifted, you 
remember, as far as the Sandwich Islands — and look- 
ing at a map you may see how many convenient 
half-way houses there are between the Malay coast 
and the large islands to the south-east. So, you can 



212 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 



; 



imagine the emigrants spreading, if sufficient time 
were allowed, to Borneo, Celebes, Sumatra, Java, 
and New Guinea, and thence to the smaller groups 
in the Pacific. 

" Before many days are passed we shall be in the 
vicinity of one of the longest — if not the longest — 
coral reefs in the world. For a thousand miles on 
the north-eastern coast of Australia is the grandest 
coral reef to be seen anywhere. It is what is known 
as a' fringing reef,' extending along the shore at a 
distance of from ^.ve to a hundred miles, and these 
fringing reefs are quite different from the atolls. 
The former have numerous openings or breaks oppo- 
site the mouths of creeks and rivers and fresh water 
streams, owing to the fact that the polyps require 
water free from mud or sediment. 

" Polyps, it may be explained, are animals fixed to 
one place like plants, having a series of flexible arms 
round their month. Their habits are very curious. 
Their numbers are increased not only by eggs, but 
also by buds that sprout from the parent body, and in 
some kinds by division. A cleft is seen in the per- 
fect animal, slight at first, but constantly increasing 
in depth till after a time two are formed out of one, 
so much alike that the child cannot be told from the 



Among the " Arches? 



213 



parent. Some polyps, however, are solitary, each 
possessing an independent stem and support ; others 
grow in company on a united base. Sometimes there 




COKAL FISHEKS. 



are thousands of distinct polyps thus possessing a 
common body. 

" Many of our most lovely specimens of coral are 



214 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

only obtained from certain depths by fishers, who 
thus gain a precarious livelihood." 

" Is it true, as Captain Turner said, that the people 
of this part of Polynesia are little better than sav- 
ages % " inquired Arthur. 

"•Well, they are a pretty bad lot, I judge," replied 
his father. " Of course I have never been ashore, 
save at Java, but my reading assures me that they are 
nearly all very treacherous and cruel peoples. For in- 
stance, in the island of Ceram no one is allowed to 
marry until he has cut off one human head at least. 
The Dyaks of Borneo carry this custom still further; 
there only the heads of men are valued, and fresh 
ones must be obtained to celebrate every birth, mar- 
riage, and funeral. 

"Again, many of these islanders are, or were till 
very recently, notorious cannibals. The Rajah of 
Sipirok assured the Dutch governor of Padang that 
he had eaten human flesh between thirty and forty 
times, and that never in all his life had he tasted any 
thing that he liked half so well. And on the island 
of Sumbawa, I am told, the Eakka tribe eat not 
only their enemies, but the bodies of their deceased 
relatives. 

" Add to the foregoing that the Malays are shame- 



Among the " Arches? 215 

less liars, not over honest, and born pirates, and we 
must admit that they are not likely to prove very 
pleasant neighbors. 

" But, doubtless, missionary endeavor will work a 
wondrous change here in the future as it has done in 
the past. The London Missionary Society, the 
Church of England Missionary Society, the Presby- 
terian Church of Scotland and in the United States, 
and the American Board of Commissioners for For- 
eign Missions — the latter with its stanch little mis- 
sionary steamer, the Morning Star — are tilling these 
fields for the Master. Gfeat results have been 
already secured by the English "Wesleyan Missionary 
Society in Fiji and Samoa — an earnest of what we 
may expect in other localities in the near future." 

Throughout the archipelago earthquakes are fre- 
quent ; the reptiles attain a size unsurpassed even in 
India ; " big game," such as tigers and elephants, 
abounds ; thunder-storms are of daily occurrence, and 
the insects are peculiarly venomous. Yet, notwith- 
standing all these drawbacks, the islands are most 
lovely and enchanting. And among the offsets to 
the foregoing drawbacks must be mentioned the de- 
licious fruits. 

While at Batavia our friends made the acquaint- 



216 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

ance of the mangosteen, universally admitted by trav- 
elers to be the finest in the world. Strange to say, 
all attempts to establish it in India or in the West 
Indies have utterly failed. 

But the fruit which is preferred above all others 
by the natives of the Pacific islands is the durian. 
Its smell, however, is usually enough to forever set 
Europeans against it, the odor having been compared 
to that of putrid animal matter, and its flavor to 
rich custard and boiled onions mixed together, to 
fresh cream and filberts, or, as one w r riter says, to 
rich butter-like custard highly flavored with almonds. 
After a time Europeans get to like it, and however 
much may be eaten no ill effect is produced, and the 
more one eats the more one wants. 

On the fifth day after leaving Batavia an interest- 
ing incident occurred, being no less an event than 
the rescue of a shipwrecked sailor from a well-nigh 
desolate island. 

About three in the afternoon an islet was sighted, 
in no part more than twenty feet above the ocean, 
and remarkable for the fact that on the highest part 
a solitary cocoa palm stood waving its feathery crest. 
There was no other tree or shrub on the island, and 
long before its low shores were sighted the slender 



Among the " Arches" 217 

trunk of the lonely tree stood outlined against the 
sky like the mast of a ship. 

Several glasses on board were leveled at the uncom- 
mon sight. While yet the City of Adelaide was two 
or three miles off, the second officer, who had been 
working away with his glass for some minutes, sud- 
denly exclaimed : 

" There's something lashed to that tree, about half- 
way up — looks like a ship's spar with a piece of bunt 
iug attached ! " 

" Take the glass aloft, Mr. Adams," said Captain 
Turner, " and see what you can make of it." 

Mr. Adams, the second officer, sprang into the rig- 
ging, and was soon at the mizzen cross-trees, with the 
glass turned on the island. In a few minutes he 
hailed the deck : 

" It's a piece of timber lashed to the tree, and it 
looks as though it might be some sort of a signal. 
But the island seems deserted." 

By this time the steamer was nearly abreast 
of the strange island, and still no sign of life ap- 
peared. 

" Clear away that gun, and get ready for firing," 
commanded Captain Turner. Every eye on board 
was now peering curiously at the land, which 



218 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

appeared to be not more than a couple of miles in 
diameter, and nearly destitute of vegetation. 

" If there should be any one there, that gun will 
let them know that help is at hand," said the hu- 
mane seaman. The steamer was slowed to half-speed 
as though loath to leave the vicinity till all doubt on 
this head was set at rest. 

Suddenly the sharp, ringing report of the small 
brass gun rang out on the calm atmosphere. Scarcely 
had the puff of grayish smoke blown away to leeward 
when the figure of a man was seen to slowly emerge 
from behind a small pile of rocks. For a minute he 
stood motionless gazing at the steamer, shading his 
eyes w r ith his hand ; then with a sudden energy he 
shambled over the ground toward the beach. 

In a moment the ship was astir with excitement. 
The steamer w T as stopped, and, before the order 
could be given, a dozen willing hands were tugging 
at the falls of the port quarter-boat, such was the 
eagerness of the crew to succor the stranger. The 
first officer and four seamen sprang in and rowed 
smartly for the shore, now about a mile distant. 

Anxiously those on board watched them on their 
errand of mercy. Reaching the beach, they were 
seen to lift the castaway in, and from this it was 



Among the " Arches" 219 

inferred that a little while longer and the gun of the 
City of Adelaide would have echoed over a body 
wrapped in death. 

Arriving at the steamer's side once more a " boat- 
swain's chair " was slung over the side, and the nearly 
helpless man was tenderly hoisted on board. A glance 
showed that untold suffering had fallen to his lot. 
Barefooted and bareheaded, his trousers and his shirt 
in ribbons, his matted hair and beard shadowing his 
emaciated face, the picture he presented was one of 
the utmost pathos. 

He was put to bed, and rough but loving hands 
ministered to his needs. It was three days ere he 
was sufficiently recovered to move about on deck, 
and ere that snatches of his thrilling story had fallen 
from his lips ; but it was many days before he was 
strong enough to give a connected account of the 
manner in which he came to be alone on a desolate 
rock in the Coral Sea. The narrative in its complete- 
ness is a fair sample of the perils endured by " those 
who go down to the sea in ships." 

Propped up on the deck with rugs, and decently 
clothed once more, he told his sad story for the in- 
formation of his rescuers : 

" I shipped from Boston last winter on board the 
14 



220 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

ship Niobe for a voyage to Valparaiso. We had a 
quick trip, and, after discharging cargo, reloaded for 
Melbourne. All went well till we were somewhere to 
the nor' ward and east'ard of New Zealand, when a 
hurricane burst on us from the south-east, and we 




WRECK OF THE " NIOBE. 



were obliged to run for it. For four days and nights 
the Niobe kept before the gale, and in all that time 
the skipper had to depend on dead reckoning — it was 
so thick that neither sun nor stars showed themselves 
for an instant. 



Among the " Arches" 221 

" On the morning of the first of September, shortly 
before day-break, and with the hurricane still thun- 
dering in our ears, we struck on a sunken rock some- 
where to the south'ard of that blessed island you took 
me off of. Luckily the ship hung on the rock till 
daylight was abroad, but she soon began to break up. 
We got out the boats — three of 'em — and the skip- 
per allowed as how he'd try for New Zealand, distant 
a matter of eight hundred miles. 

" We kept together for the first three days, but in 
a bit of a blow that came up on the third night the 
boat I was in with four others missed the other two 
boats, and when daylight came we were alone ! Most 
of the grub was in the captain's boat, and we had 
only a bag of biscuits and about half a keg of water 
for five men. 

" Well, we rowed all that day on what we supposed 
was the true course for New Zealand, but soon our 
strength gave out, and we just let her drift. On the 
fifth day after leaving the ship our water was all 
gone, and the biscuits likewise. After sunset it be- 
gan to breeze up again, and we had all we could do 
to keep our boat from swamping. About midnight, 
I should say it was, the noise of breakers warned us 
that danger was near, but before we could get the 



222 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

boat's head round, a big comber caught us and turned 
the boat over and over like an empty cocoa-nut shell. 
After being near drowned in the breakers, besides 
being cut by the sharp coral, I managed to reach the 
sand, and flung myself down as weak as a kitten. It 
was a lovely sunshiny morning when I woke up. 
Bobbing up and down in the surf were portions of 
the boat's timbers, but / was alone ! I suppose the 
others were drowned, as I came very near being. 

" Well, I had no idea where I was, but determined 
to make one more fight for life. I had nothing ex- 
cept the clothes I wore and my knife. There was 
plenty of wood along shore, and with some flints and 
the linen sleeves of my shirt I managed to get a fire 
started, and cooked some shell-fish that I picked up 
among the rocks. Then, by digging holes in the sand 
at low tide, I caught a few fish now and then during 
high water. I climbed the cocoa-nut-tree, and threw 
down the nuts, but eating them made me ill. So, as 
there was no fruit to be had, I had to fall back on 
the fish ; but they were so few, and I had no proper 
means of catching them, that I soon saw I was 
doomed to slow starvation unless help arrived. Once 
I knocked a bird over with a stone, but after that the 
creatures never alighted on the island. I suppose I 



Among the "Arches? 223 

frightened them away. Before I got so very weak I 
managed to rig np that spar you sighted on the 
trunk of the palm, thinking that any ship passing 
within sight would surely come near enough for me 
to show myself. 

" The loneliness and solitude were frightful, while 
the melancholy booming of the surf on the outer reef 
rang in my ears sleeping or waking. I tried to re- 
call all the stories I had ever heard of men in a like 
position — of the manner in which they had made 
shift to prolong life — but it seemed that none of 
them were in so desperate a plight as I. The sharp 
report of yonder gun roused me from the dull leth- 
argy of despair." 

The seaman's sorrowful tale made a profound im- 
pression on all who heard it. Contributions of cloth- 
ing had been presented by members of the steamer's 
crew, and with the addition of a handsome purse 
made up by the passengers, his condition was ren- 
dered less destitute, and he found himself assured 
against want till he should secure another ship at 
Melbourne. 

Aside from a pretty severe gale in the South 
Pacific, while running down the east coast of Aus- 



224: The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

tralia, the remainder of the voyage was devoid of 
special incident. Three weeks after leaving Batavia 
Point Nepean, at the mouth of Port Philip, was 
sighted, and a few hours thereafter the City of Ade- 
laide brought up in Hobson's Bay, opposite William- 
town. 




A Week at Melbourne. 



225 



CHAPTER XV. 

A WEEK AT MELBOURNE. 

ELBOUKNE harbor is one 
of the most beautiful havens 
on the globe. Majestic and 
graceful hills guard its en- 
trance, and once within, the 
mingled loveliness of seascape and land- 
scape, attractive even to those who are 
familiar with the scene, seem doubly 
beautiful to the weary voyager whose 
eyes for weeks have rested on a weary waste of toss- 
ing waters. 

The time of our friends' arrival in Australia was 
that of late spring or early summer. Of course, 
being our antipodes, the periods of the seasons are 
reversed. June is midwinter, and December glows 
with summer heats. Yet although there is much to 
admire in the semi-tropical luxuriance of the verdure, 
there is lacking the spontaneous freshness that is so 
charming a feature of spring-time in England and 




226 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn, 

America. In most parts of Australia the trees never 
shed their leaves, as with us, and in spring the foliage 
merely takes on a slightly more vivid shade of green 
than at other seasons. Of course, such a thing as 
frost or snow is almost unknown, even in the ex- 
treme south. 

Owing to the existence of two formidable bars in 
the Yarra-Yarra River, one at its mouth and another 
about half-way to the city, the largest vessels anchor 
at Hobson's Bay, near the mouth of the harbor. 
From thence the ascent to the city is made by jaunty 
river steamers or by rail. Our travelers chose the 
former mode, as affording a better idea of the city 
and its suburbs. 

The distance from Hobson's Bay to Melbourne is 
only eight miles, and in the half -hour it took to cover 
that distance every member found plenty to occupy 
his eyes. 

The shipping was not essentially different from 
that to be seen in any great American or English 
port ; the pleasant suburban towns — St. Kilda, Pres- 
ton, South Melbourne, Brighton, and Williamtown — 
gleamed pleasantly through the trees ; and, as Arthur 
said, " It seemed almost like home." 

On landing at the steamer wharf a stout gentleman 



A Week at Melbourne. 227 

wearing a huge straw hat and cool linen garments, 
and looking not unlike the pictures of our Southern 
planters in days before the war, advanced toward Mr. 
Elroy, and inquired pleasantly after his health. 

" Your steamer was telegraphed two hours ago, so 
I ran down to meet you. And these are the boys 
you wrote about ? Well, well, we must see what we 
can do to amuse them ;" and with a big hand on the 
shoulder of each, Mr. Harrison wheeled them about 
and started up the wharf, talking volubly all the 
while. 

Mr. Elroy introduced the stranger as Mr. Har- 
rison, one of the firm to which he was accredited. 

"I suppose you recognized me because of the 
boys \ " queried Mr. Elroy. 

" Precisely," rejoined Mr. Harrison. " And then, 
you see, you didn't expect me, while I was looking 
for you." So, chatting and laughing, and arm in 
arm, they strolled up the wharf, the boys and the 
baggage forming the rear-guard. 

They had reached the head of the pier, when just 
then a tinkle of bells was heard, and along came a 
horse-car, scarcely different from the vehicles they 
had left behind in New York. They got on board, 
rode a few squares, and then alighted in front of a 



228 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

handsome store, with a big gilt sign extending across 
its front, bearing the legend : 

" Harrison, Martin & Co., Tools, Agricultural Implements, and 
Machinery." 

" This isn't Broadway or Chestnut Street," said Mr. 
Harrison, with a gracious wave of his hand and a 
jovial laugh ; " but we manage to make a few pen- 
nies here every year, nevertheless." 

The junior partner, Mr. Martin, was now intro- 
duced, after which Mr. Harrison said : 

"Mr. Elroy, you and your sons must make my 
house your home while here ; we'll treat you better 
than at a hotel." " I do not doubt it," was the reply. 

Such an invitation could only be accepted in the 
spirit in which it was extended, and as business hours 
were very nearly over for that day, the two partners, 
Mr. Elroy, and George and Arthur were soon driv- 
ing behind a pair of spirited horses through the sub- 
urbs of Melbourne to Mr. Harrison's residence. 

As had been the case at Honolulu, Yokohama, and 
Hong-Kong, Mr. Elroy's time during their stay in 
Melbourne was chiefly occupied with the details of 
the business that had brought him to the antipodes. 
Hence the boys were left largely to themselves ; yet, 



A Week at Melbourne. 229 

through the kindness of Mr. Harrison, their days 
were so crammed with sight-seeing and amusements 
that there was scarcely an idle moment. 

A son and a daughter, Harry and Hattie, children 
of their host, and about the age of George and Ar- 
thur, made them welcome to " Grassbank," as the 
merchant's suburban home was named, and before 
the early dinner was ended enough excursions had 
been planned to consume a month instead of a week. 

An hour or two of daylight yet remaining, the car- 
riage was ordered again for a drive to the city's chief 
points of interest. And first they were taken to the 
Parliament House, a massive pile costing £400,000, 
and then to the Botanic Garden. Melbourne, of 
course, possesses " all the modern improvements," and 
there are libraries, hospitals, benevolent and orphan 
asylums, a cathedral, and numerous churches of all 
denominations. The system of water supply is not 
surpassed by any European municipality : Lake Yan- 
Nean and the Plenty Kiver, the latter eighteen miles 
long, serve — the one as a reservoir and the other as an 
aqueduct — to convey water of remarkable purity and 
freshness to every house. The next day being Sun- 
day, the family and their guests attended divine wor- 
ship at the leading Wesleyan church. 



230 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

Monday morning, bright and early, the four 
young people had arranged to make a trip to 
Brighton, on the eastern shore of Port Philip, 
which is a famous sea-side resort and bathing-place 
for the inhabitants of Melbourne. It is named after 
the well-known English south-coast resort, and is only 
one of the many localities whose titles perpetuate 
the memory of places in the dear mother country. 
Indeed, our travelers were not slow to discover that 
one of the marked traits of the people of Australia is 
a passionate loyalty to and love of England and En- 
glish manners, places, and customs. The dream of 
the colonist is, in many cases, of the time when he 
shall have amassed sufficient wealth to return to his 
birthplace, and with this end in view many toil 
through long and weary years only to find at the 
last that the new ties and responsibilities incurred in 
the land of their adoption are too strong to be broken 
when means and leisure crown their efforts. 

Melbourne (pronounced Mel'bum) stands at the 
foot of a range of mountains called by various 
names. In their eastern extremity they are known 
as the Australian Alps, and the western arm of the 
range is called the Grampians, while the native Aus- 
tralians name them the Warrangong Mountains, 



A Week at Melbourne. 231 

The highest peaks are Mount Alexander and Mount 
Kosciusko, the latter reaching an altitude of seven 
thousand one hundred and seventy-six feet 'above the 
level of the sea. Though the chain hardly attains to 
the snow-line, yet the Melbournites say that from 
them they "get all their weather." Certain it is that 
the Yarra-Yarra River, which is not navigable above 
the city owing to numerous falls and cascades, is fre- 
quently swollen by torrents from the hills, and its 
breadth and depth opposite the city are on this ac- 
count " mighty onsartin." 

The city is the metropolis of the southern hemi- 
sphere, and is elegantly built, having two hundred 
and fifty-two thousand inhabitants. Perhaps the best 
evidence of its prosperity and world-wide commerce 
was afforded to our party by a visit paid to the ship- 
ping at Williamtown. Here, moored in tiers at com- 
modious docks, were vessels flying every known flag 
— French, German, Italian, Spanish, American, Nor- 
wegian, and a due proportion of the " blood-red rag " 
of the English merchant navy. And in the waterside 
quarters of the city of Melbourne itself could be heard 
nearly every lingo under the sun. 

Melbourne was only founded in 1837, but its mar- 
velous growth and prosperity has been mostly due to 



232 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

the discovery, in 1851, of the gold-fields at Mount 
Alexander and at Ballarat, sixty or seventy miles 
distant. 

" The story of that discovery, which was the mak- 
ing of Australia, reads like a romance," said Mr, 
Harrison, himself an "old-timer," in answer to a re- 
mark made by one of the boys. " The first discovery 
of gold here was as unexpected and startling as was 
the appearance of the golden grains in the soil of 
California, at Sutter's Mill, three years before. In 
the harbors of Sydney and Melbourne, I well re- 
member, scores of ships were often detained for 
months unable to obtain crews for love or money. 
As soon as a ship arrived in port every soul on board, 
save the captain and mates, would desert and flock to 
the mines." 

In their various excursions about the beautiful en- 
virons of Melbourne, in many of which Mr. Elroy 
was able to accompany the younger people, one fact 
especially impressed our travelers. The vegetation 
of the region is very peculiar. Its trees seldom or 
never form dense forests, but are scattered in park- 
like groups, and, as has been remarked, have ever- 
green leaves, save those which are leafless. To our 
trio, fresh from the dense jungles of south-eastern 



A Week at Melbourne. 233 

Asia and Java, this change was peculiarly pleasing. 
The boys were never tired of rambling through the 
grassy glades, or of admiring the giant ferns which 
here attain a height of twenty feet. Strange to say, 




WOODLAND SCENERY. 



there are no indigenous fruits in Australia worth 
eating. 

On one occasion Arthur came upon a curious in- 
sect. It had a very thin and flat body, with large leaf- 
like wings, and was of a bright green color. At first 



234 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

sight he took it for a fallen leaf, but when he saw 
the leaf crawling up the trunk of a tree he thought 
it high time to investigate ; so he picked one up, and 
then found that its legs were folded closely under its 
body. 

" O that's one of the ' walking leaves ' of Austra- 
lia ! " said Harry Harrison, when Arthur mentioned 
the occurrence. '* Almost every body has heard of 
them. For a long time after the discovery of the 
continent many people really believed that the leaves 
of a certain tree could walk about the ground. The 
story, I believe, arose in this way: Some English 
sailors landed on the coast one day, and after roam- 
ing about until they were tired they sat down under 
a tree to rest themselves. A gust of wind came 
along and blew off a shower of leaves, which, after 
turning over and over and round and round, as leaves 
generally do in the air, finally rested on the ground. 
As it was midsummer, and every thing quite green, 
the circumstance puzzled the sailors considerably. 
But their surprise was much greater, as you may 
well suppose, when after a short time they saw the 
leaves crawling along the ground toward the trunk 
of the tree. They at once ran for their vessel, with- 
out stopping to examine the matter at all, and were 



A Week at Melbourne. 235 

in great haste to set sail from a land where every 
thing seemed to be bewitched. It is related that one 
of the men said that he ' expected every minute to 
see the trees set to and dance a jig ! ? Subsequent 
investigation showed that these supposed leaves are 
really insects, and that Nature has thus fortified 
them against their enemies. They live upon the 
trees, and change color, with the foliage, from a 
bright green in midsummer to a russet brown in 
winter. When disturbed they fold their slender legs 
away under their wings, leaving their shape exactly 
that of a leaf, stem and all complete. When shaken 
from a tree they lie upon the ground for a few min- 
utes as if they were dead, but presently they crawl 
slowly over the ground to the tree, which they 
ascend again. They seldom use their wings — at 
least I don't remember ever to have seen one 
flying." 

" We have a most delightful climate," said Mr. 
Harrison ; " the mean temperature at Melbourne is 
59 degrees Fahrenheit. In summer the average is 
72 degrees ; in winter, 55 degrees ; in spring, 66 de- 
grees ; and in autumn, 65 degrees. Of course, in the 
northern part of the island tropical heats prevail, and 

120 degrees in the shade, I am told, is a frequent 
15 



236 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

reading. Then, in ISTew South Wales, long droughts 
prevail, which dry up the streams and wither vege- 
tation ; but as a rule, especially on the south and 
south-eastern coasts, the temperature and meteorology 
are subject to no sudden or violent changes." 

" Are there any convicts in Australia now ? " in- 
quired George, one evening after dinner. 

" To that question I must answer Yes and No," re- 
plied Mr. Harrison. "Former convicts are all we 
have among us at the present time, though they are 
rapidly dying out. 

" In the middle of the seventeenth century, as you 
probably know, England adopted transportation as a 
means of punishment, and criminals so sentenced 
were sent to the plantations of America, where they 
were treated as slaves. But after the American War 
of Independence Australia was selected by England 
as the receptacle of her criminals, the first batch ar- 
riving at Sydney in 1787. Botany Bay was the spot 
to which they were consigned, but though the depot 
was slowly removed to Port Jackson, the old name 
clung to the new location. 

" In 1840 the whole system of transportation was 
abandoned by England, owing to the opposition of 
the colonies to the further reception of these 



A Week at Melbourne. 237 

criminal classes. But during the period when the old 
system flourished thousands of discharged prisoners 
took up residence here. Many of them were ticket- 
of-leave men ; some fell back into their old lawless 
ways, but many turned their abilities to account, en- 
tered activ^y into some of the many channels open 
to the shrewd man of business both before and after 
the gold discoveries, and speedily amassed fortunes. 
By some, positions of honor and influence have been 
attained; and though, in the mother country, their 
social standing would be irretrievably forfeited, yet 
here former crimes are not remembered against those 
who once were ' forced to leave their country for 
their country's good,' who have paid the penalty 
therefor, and who have atoned for past errors by 
repentance and by a new life in a new land." 

" Would you like to pay a visit to a native village 
or encampment?" asked Harry Harrison, one morning. 

"Nothing would suit us better," both boys de- 
clared. So, immediately after breakfast, horses were 
ordered out, and the trio of happy fellows, with 
an attendant, started on a twenty-mile ride "up 
country," and into the " bush," as the unsettled por- 
tions of Australia are called, the term being used 
whether trees abound or not. 



238 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

For the first five miles the road lay over the old 
trail to the mines at Ballarat, but soon branched off 
and turned more inland. At first a well-defined 
highway, it grew narrower and fainter by degrees, 
till it was but little more than a mere ribbon wind- 
ing away for miles over hill and valley^ 

Mr. Harrison, on learning of their destination, had 
insisted on their being accompanied by his groom, 
John Dunn, though Harry protested he knew every 
foot of the way. 

" By the way, boys," said Harry, just before start- 
ing, and while Dunn had run back to the house for 
some forgotten trifle, " Jack is an old convict — so be 
careful not to say any thing to hurt his feelings. He 
has been with us for a good many years, but before 
that, and while he was still l on leave, ' as they used 
to speak of a man released for good conduct before 
his sentence had expired, he was engaged as a team- 
ster carrying supplies to tlr -nines. He knows more 
stories, and has seen more' adventures, than any one 
else I know of. Besides, he knows the ways of the 
blacks — which, I suppose, was why father made us 
take him." 

When Jack returned the boys regarded him with 
renewed interest after Harry's biographical sketch. 



A Week at Melbourne. 239 

He was a man of about fifty-five, small and wiry, 
with a smooth face and a bright eye, and rode his. 
native pony " like a guardsman," as Harry expressed 
it. Indeed, rumor had it that in his younger days 
John Dunn had taken the Queen's Shilling, though 
this he hac^ever been heard to admit. 

So, behold our joyous party cantering over the 
short turf and under the glorious canopy of a south- 
ern summer sky. Pointing to a rocky eminence 
that, ten miles away, stood frowning against the deep- 
blue of the heavens, said Harry : 

"That's Dungog. Behind that hill is where we 
are bound, eh, Jack?" 

"Yes, Master Harry," replied Jack. "We'll find 
the blacks in Kyneton Wood." 

Though the native peoples of Australia are of 
many tribes and languages, they appear to be of one 
original stock, closely allied to the races of the Malay 
Archipelago. They are very degraded, have slender 
religious notions, possess no agriculture, and no ideas 
of navigation save in the rudest kinds of canoes or 
floats. They have been charged with cannibalism, 
and live mainly by hunting and fishing ; yet under 
stress of hunger they will devour worms, insects, 
and roots. Their houses and clothing are of the 



240 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

rudest and simplest description. Though the native 
Australians are called " blacks," or " black fellows," 
by the colonists, their complexion is more inclined 
to a brownish hue. They are small in stature, but 
exceedingly active, and are chiefly remarkable for 
a mop of woolly hair, which grows in a luxuriance 
very different from that of the ordinary Negro. 

A ride of three hours, in the course of which a 
number of streams were forded, found our party on 
the banks of a small river overhung by noble trees. 
As far as eye could penetrate the woodland seemed 
to reach. Spaces of from twenty to fifty feet sepa- 
rated these monarchs of the forest, and there was 
little or no undergrowth to obstruct the sight. 

And now George and Arthur gained some idea of 
Australian birds. Besides many of the home varie- 
ties, the woods abounded with parrots and brush tur- 
keys, while on the bosom of a stream floated the 
graceful black swan. 

" I want so much to see an emu and a kangaroo ! " 
exclaimed Arthur. 

" They're pretty scarce now, and mighty timid," 
remarked Jack, but wait till we halt for lunch, and 
may be one'll show hisself." 

The emu is a gigantic native bird of Australia. It 



A Week at Melbourne. 



241 



is timid and peaceful, and trusts to its speed for 
safety, unless hard pressed. But when attacked it 
fights bravely, striking backward and obliquely with 
its feet, and its kick is so powerful that it is suffi- 
cient to break a man's leg. It cannot fly, and dogs 




A KANGAROO. 



employed in hunting it are often mortally wounded 
by its kicks, but well-trained dogs will run in before 
it and spring at its neck. 

By this time it was high noon. In the open 
glades the sun was oppressively hot, and it was 



242 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

decided to halt for lunch on the banks of the river. 
So the horses were tethered, knapsacks were un- 
strapped, and soon appetites awakened by the long 
ride were being appeased. 

" Hist ! " was the warning from Jack's lips. Point- 
ing to the right the boys saw a huge bird, of a dull 
brown color, mottled with dingy gray, followed by 
five young ones striped with black, moving slowly 
among the trees. The mother and her brood were 

feeding on the roots and 
herbage, and from time to 
time the old bird emitted a 
low drumming sound when 
her chicks strayed too far 
away. In height the emu 
appeared to exceed that of 
the emu. a man . 

" Time was," said Jack, " when in these woods whole 
flocks of emus could be seen any hour of the day. 
But what with nest robbing, and coursing, and shoot- 
ing, they've 'most disappeared. Them rascally blacks 
'11 nab that one, sure." 

They were not far from the native village, and in 
about a quarter of an hour a chorus of yells and 
barking was borne to their ears. 



i 




A Week at Melbourne. 243 

" Told ye so ! " growled Jack. " If they'd only let 
the chicks alone 'twouldn't be so bad ; but they 
catches them, and wrings their necks, just as though 
they was common barn-yard hens ! " 

Mounting once more, the boys, headed by Jack, 
rode toward the black village. They were 311st in 
time to see a procession, composed of every man and 
boy, returning in triumph, with the dead emu slung 
by the feet to a limb of a tree, and borne on the 
shoulders of two men. 

Jack, who was evidently well known to the tribe, 
made his way straight to the residence of the head-man. 
This structure consisted merely of four stakes driven 
into the ground, the roof thatched with boughs and 
leaves, and the end roughly walled up by the same 
means. On a dirty mat under this rude canopy sat 
the chief, smoking a dirty clay pipe. 

" I have noticed," said George to Arthur, in a low 
toner, "that savage peoples copy the white man's vices 
much quicker than his virtues." 

Jack Dunn, after a short confab with the head- 
man, returned to the boys, and announced that they 
were at liberty to walk through the village, if the 
motley collection of rude huts could be dignified by 
such a name. Accordingly, they availed themselves 



24:4: The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn, 

of this permission. There was not the slightest 
attempt at arrangement ; every man planted his four 
stakes where and how it pleased him. Swarms of 
children played and fought on the bare ground, 
innocent of all attire. Every-where the women 
appeared to be busy about some rude domestic task, 
while their lords lazily smoked or slept. 

Their tour of inspection ended, Jack led them to 
a clear space of grassy ground, saying that he had 
persuaded the men of the village to exhibit their 
skill with the spear and the boomerang. These are 
the two principal weapons of the Australian natives, 
and their dexterity in their use is marvelous. 

Could it be possible that these lithe and active 
forms, with sparkling eyes and tense muscles, could 
be the same listless beings whom they had seen under 
the huts a few minutes ago ? Each one was animated 
by the desire to outdo his fellows, and Jack whis- 
pered that some surprising feats might be expected. 

First came the boomerang. This is used either in 

war, in sport, or in hunting, and 

is of hard wood, of a bent form, 

the shape being parabolic. The 

a boomerang. ordinary dimensions are: length, 

two feet; breadth, two and a half inches, and one 




A Week at Melbourne. 245 

third of an inch thick ; one side is flat and the other 
rounded, and it is brought to a bluntish edge. 

On a tree about a hundred feet distant sat a chatter- 
ing parrot. A dusky native advanced, grasped the 
weapon with one hand at the straight end, the bulged 
side downward and the convex edge forward. With 
a dexterous twist the boomerang was hurled. Slowly 
and silently it sped on its errand of death, describing 
a graceful curve, whirling round and round. It struck 
the parrot, killing it instantly, and while its limp and 
lifeless body fluttered to the ground, the boomerang, 
having performed its mission, described a retrograde 
motion, sweeping back over the heads of the spec- 
tators, till it fell to earth again some distance behind 
them, where the Australian stood awaiting its fall. 
It landed directly at his feet. 

Again and again this feat was repeated by different 
members of the tribe, with only slight variations. 
Dunn remarked that the force of the blow could be 
regulated so as to crack a nut or to break an enemy's 
skull. 

Then came the spear exercises. These brought out 
equal dexterity. A piece of bark not larger than a 
silver dollar was affixed to the trunk of a tree a hun- 
dred paces away, and a spear sent crashing through 



246 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

its center. Then the sport was varied : eight spears 
were planted by as many different throwers at equal 
distances apart all around the central one. Then a 
slender sapling was indicated by Jack at about the 
same distance, and a spear was sent whizzing through 
the air, striking the tree with such force as to leave 
it swaying to and fro. 

Lastly, a huge tree trunk was chosen, against which 
one of the men placed his nearly naked body. Twenty 
of the warriors stood ready with spear in hand, and at 
a given signal each one advanced in turn and hurled 
his spear, till the man against the tree was hemmed 
in with quivering spears. 

This closed the entertainment, and each resumed 
his listless demeanor, and slouched away to sleep and 
smoke again. A small present of money to the head- 
man of the village was stolidly received, each of the 
boys being in return presented with a feather of the 
dead emu, which a number of women were seen 
stripping of its skin as they passed one of the huts. 
Jack explained that the skin yields six or seven 
pounds of oil, and is, therefore, highly prized by the 
natives. 

The following day being Sunday — their second in 
Australia — and the last of their stay at Melbourne, 



A Week at Melbourne. 247 

was spent in pleasant intercourse with the family of 
their host. Mr. Elroy informed his sons that his 
errand had been successfully accomplished, and that 
on Monday morning they would sail for Bombay. 
An early start being necessary, adieus to many friends 
were said the night previous, and at eight o'clock in 
the morning they ascended the gang-plank of the 
Hooghly, another P. and O. steamer. 

Before sailing our travelers witnessed an interest- 
ing process : — that of swinging the vessel for the 
purpose of adjusting her compasses. 

The bearings of the compasses on board an iron 
steamer are almost always more or less affected by 
the vast bulk of that metal which enters into their 
construction. For the purposes of correct navigation 
it is necessary for a commander to know the amount 
of this variation. So the ship is moored by cables 
stem and stern at some distance from the shore, and 
then, by means of w r arps, is turned with her head 
toward various points, one after another. The bear- 
ings of the compasses on board are accurately noted by 
some one appointed for the purpose — often the cap- 
tain himself — while the true bearing is signaled to 
him by a second observer on shore who has a compass 
out of reach of all local disturbance. The error in 



248 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

each position is ascertained, and the necessary correc- 
tions are made. 

Then, amid the waving of many handkerchiefs on 
the dock at Williamtown and on the deck — for the 
Uooghly carried a large passenger list, and to the 
echoes of a gun from the Government Dock, the 
noble steamer turned her head down the harbor, and 
soon her great screw was churning the waters of the 
South Pacific. 




" The Land of the Veda." 



249 



CHAPTEK XYI. 

"THE LAND OF THE YE DA." 

'HE voyage to India upon which our 

travelers were now embarked 

was the longest continuous sea 

trip they had yet undertaken in 

the course of their journeyings. 

The distance from Melbourne to Bombay 

is five thousand four hundred and ninety 

miles, and for two weeks they saw no sign 

of land. 

The voyage was devoid of special interest, and the 
winds and waves were most propitious. One sea 
voyage is much like another, and life on the Hooghly 
was not essentially different from that on any other 
of the stanch craft that had hitherto carried oar trav- 
elers. It wanted a day of three weeks from the time 
of leaving Port Philip when the Hooghly rounded 
to in Bombay harbor. 

The city of Bombay is a very lively place. It is 
situated on the southern extremity of an island of the 




250 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

same name, in the Indian Ocean, eleven miles long, 
and strongly fortified. It is the chief port between 
Australia, Ceylon, and the East and Aden, and is thus 
most favorably situated for trade. The harbor is one 
of the finest in the world, and affords good anchoring 
ground for the largest vessels. Ship-building is a 
most important industry, in which the ancient and 
honorable Parsee family named Lowjee is extensively 
engaged. Indeed, the Parsee inhabitants of Bombay, 
descended from the ancient Fire- worshipers, are among 
its most upright and respected citizens, and rank next 
to the English in respectability and influence. The 
late Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, indeed, stands forth, 
regardless of his fabulous wealth, as the model of a 
merchant prince in enterprise and integrity, in mu- 
nificence and patriotism, and the Jamsetjee Hospital 
and the Jamsetjee Obstetric Hospital are tangible 
evidences of his generosity. 

Outside the fortifications of the European town is 
Black Town, the native quarter, in which the Hindus 
and Mohammedans reside. Here, on the evening 
after their arrival, Mr. Elroy and his sons witnessed a 
curious ceremony, called "the Full Moon of Cocoa- 
nuts." 

Besides the ship-building interest, the native popu. 



" The Land of the VedaP 253 

lation of Bombay are largely interested in the fish- 
eries, and once a year, at the end of the rainy season, 
two whole days are devoted to a species of propitia- 
tory worship of the ocean. The idea which prompts 
it is that the sea is very powerful, and the simple- 
minded folk think they are in duty bound to adore it 
because it is the source of their subsistence. So they 
gather in groups on the shore, and beg the ocean to 
be kind to them, not to be angry or stormy when 
their fishing-boats are out, and to send them plenty 
of fish. 

Every one carries a gift of cocoa-nuts. Wading 
into the boiling surf, they fling the rough brown fruit 
as far as possible into the waves, and the more devout 
follow the cocoa-nut with a wreath or garland of 
flow r ers. Usually the water for miles is covered with 
flowers and cocoa-nuts, offerings given in thankfulness 
for past favors. 

Not only the poor fisher-folk, but boat -owners, 
ship-builders, and rich merchants mingle in the crowd 
and toss their nuts and their flowers, to invoke the 
favor of Neptune, the sea-god. 

Between the European and the native quarters are 

the barracks and the Esplanade, where, on certain 

evenings, the military band plays, and all the wealth, 
16 



254 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

rank, and fashion of the city assemble to see and be 
seen. 

Bombay possesses a number of noble public build- 
ings, and our friends visited in turn the cathedral, 
the custom-house, the Elphinstone Institution, the 
missionary buildings, and the medical college. But 
what repaid them most was an inspection of the 
great Hindu temple, Momba Devi, undoubtedly the 
most magnificent pile in Bombay. 

Bombay was visited by the Portuguese in 1509, 
and acquired by them in 1530. But in the year 
1662 it was given, with Tangier, in Africa, and 
£300,000 in money, to King Charles II. of England 
as the marriage portion of the Infanta Catherine of 
Portugal. 

In 1688 it was granted by the Crown to the East 
India Company, but passed to the Crown ae;ain, to- 
gether with the rest of the company's possessions, 
after the Mutiny of 1857. 

The island of Bombay on the south-west termi- 
nates in a rocky headland, sixty feet high, called 
Maiden Point. It is adorned with a pleasing variety 
of country seats, interspersed with groves of cocoa-nut- 
trees, and traversed in all directions by good drives. 
Magnificent views are obtained from this point. 



" The Land of the Veda:' 255 

Bombay, with the exception of Madras, is the oldest 
possession of England in the East. 

While here Mr. Elroy and his sons paid a visit to 
the world-famous Parsee cemetery on Malabar Hill. 
In nothing are the peculiar rites of the Parsees bet- 
ter evidenced than in the treatment of their dead. 
In this cemetery is a temple for the preservation 
of the sacred fire, houses for the priests, and five 
gloomy circular stone towers, known as the " Towers 
of Silence," the receptacles for the bodies of the 
dead, each sixty feet in diameter and about fifty 
feet high. 

The approaches to the cemetery are guarded by 
men of a separate caste, and who, from father to son, 
generation after generation, are not allowed to min- 
gle with the people at large. Of course, our party 
were not allowed to pass certain bounds. When a 
death occurs, the body is carried to the gate by the 
friends, and given to the priests. ISTo one is allowed 
to enter the gates with it ; should any one do so they 
would be subjected to the fate reserved for the de- 
parted one. After certain ceremonies the body is 
laid on a platform of one of the towers, the base of 
which consists of a sort of grating. A flock of vult- 
ures, perched near by, pounces on the corpse, and 



256 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

in an incredibly short time the bones are picked 
clean, and fall in a heap on the floor of the tower 
beneath. 

This is a most revolting mode of disposing of the 
dead. Better by far the flaming funeral pyres of 
the Hindus, several of which our friends saw burn- 
ing on the shore every night of their stay. 

The business that called Mr. Elroy to Bombay was 
soon dispatched, and preparations were made for a 
flying visit to Agra and Delhi, former capitals of the 
Mogul Empire. On the passage from Melbourne 
Mr. Elroy had announced his intention of thus turn- 
ing aside from the beaten route in order to visit these 
two notable cities, Agra being the site of the world- 
famous Taj Mahal, and Delhi, apart from its own 
magnificence, possessing in its vicinity a wonderful 
relic, called the Kootub Minar, the tallest minaret in 
the world. 

The route was by the Delhi and East Indian Eail- 
way to Allahabad, a city lying at the confluence of 
the Jumna with the Ganges, thence by rail again to 
Agra and Delhi, a distance in all of about seven hun- 
dred and fifty miles. Traveling by rail in India is 
probably attended with greater discomfort than in any 
other quarter of the globe, not excepting Eussia. 



" The Land of the YedaP 257 

The heat and the dust are intolerable, and as a rule 
sleep, during a long ride, is well-nigh impossible. 
Hence it was with a very hot, tired, and gritty feeling 
that, after crossing the lofty iron bridge over the 
Jumna, our three travelers alighted from the cars in 
the great glass-roofed station at Delhi on the second 
day after quitting Bombay. 

Ancient Delhi was the largest city of Hindustan, 
and possessed a population of two million souls. An 
extensive area, covered with the ruins of palaces, pa- 
vilions, baths, and royal tombs, marks the extent and 
magnificence of the ancient Mogul capital. The 
modern city, which was founded by the warlike 
Shah Jehan in 1631, has a circumference of seven 
miles, is surrounded by massive walls of red sand- 
stone thirty feet high, and is entered by seven colos- 
sal arched gates, defended by circular forts. 

One of its main avenues is a hundred and twenty 
feet wide, and the palace of the Great Mogul, erected 
by Shah Jehan, is accounted the most magnificent in 
India. In all, the city possesses forty mosques, many 
of which have gilded minarets and domes, so that, 
seen from a distance, the appearance of the city is 
gorgeous and imposing. The modern city is eleven 
miles south of the ancient site, and the distance is 



258 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

traversed in palanquins, a species of open sedan-chair, 
borne on the shoulders of coolies. Long ere our 
travelers reached the scene of ruin and desolation the 
Kootub could be seen towering above the surround- 
ing foliage. 

" The British dominion in India," said Mr. Elroy, 
" is a thing of yesterday compared with the antiquity 
of the civilization of the country. It was one of the 
cradles, if not the cradle, of our race. A dynasty of 
kings is believed to have reigned about 2300 B. C, 
and the religion of Buddha is reputed to have been 
introduced 956 B. C. Five centuries before Christ 
the land was conquered by Darius Hystaspes, who 
formed an Indian satrapy in 512 B. C. Three cent- 
uries before Christ, Alexander the Great invaded and 
partly subdued it ; two hundred years later it was in- 
vaded by the Tartars, and from the tenth to the 
twelfth centuries of onr era the Mohammedans, the 
most successful of its many invaders, overran and 
subdued large portions of the country. Their re- 
ligion marks their progress to this day. That India 
was known to the Jews is also certain ; but it is a 
curious fact that the name India occurs in only one 
place in Scripture — in the Book of Esther. Yet for 
five centuries the Hebrews carried on an extensive 



" The Land of the VedaP 259 

commerce with all that country around and south of 
the Indus. 

"Anciently Greeks, Persians, and Tartars, and in 
modern times Turks, Dutch, Portuguese, French, 
and English, have been masters of the whole or por- 
tions of India. But, despite its frequent change of 
rulers, India, its people, and its ancient history are in 
many respects a puzzle to the scholar and the archae- 
ologist." 

" Was Delhi a very ancient city — the former one, 
I mean % " queried Arthur. 

u Its origin is lost in antiquity," replied his father. 
" Under the name of Indraprasthra it is believed to 
have flourished in the day of Darius Hystaspes and 
in the time of Alexander the Great, and was thus con- 
temporary with Babylon, Mneveh, and Susa. Many 
centuries later, under the Mogul emperors, it became 
the capital of a vast empire, reaching from the Indus 
to the Ganges, and from the Himalayas to the Indian 
Ocean. The modern city dates from 1631, when it 
was founded by Shah Jehan." 

Arrived at the ruins, a scene of unparalleled disor- 
der greeted their eyes. Far as the eye could reach 
lay the fallen stones of temples, mosques, palaces, tow- 
ers, and minarets, while, mingling with these remains 



260 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

of fallen greatness, the verdure of the tropics inter- 
twined itself, as though Nature would strive to 
clothe the dead, gaping stones with living beauty. 
Overlooking this scene of departed grandeur, "like 
a Pharos to guide the traveler over this scene of 
desolation," stands the famous Kootub Minar, the 
loftiest single shaft in the world save our own Wash- 
ington Monument. 

The history of the Kootub Minar runs as follows : 
About the year 1200 of our era, the Sultan Abu 
Museffa ul Momenin conceived the idea of adding to 
the glory of his capital by erecting a mosque which 
should eclipse any other building in the world for 
extent and costliness. One account says it was to 
please a favorite daughter, who wished to view every 
morning the rising sun, that the enterprise was 
undertaken ; but, though this may have partly influ- 
enced the monarch, it is probable that a religious 
motive was the principal one. From the grandeur 
and exquisite finish of the Minar which remains it is 
amply evident that this mosque fully realized the 
builder's intentions, and surpassed any thing ever at- 
tempted by human ingenuity. All the arches are 
yet in existence, their decoration being in a nearly 
perfect state. 




THE KOOTUB MINAR, DELHI. 



" The Land of the Veda." 263 

In 1389, when Tamerlane, " the fire-brand of the 
universe," invaded India, the beauty of the Kootub 
was such that he caused a model of it to be made, 
which he carried with him on his return, together 
with as many skilled artisans as he could muster in 
Delhi, and a legend runs to the effect that he built 
another mosque upon the same plan at his capital of 
Samarcand. At this day the column of Alexander at 
St. Petersburg, the minaret of the Hassan Mosque at 
Cairo, and Pompey's Pillar (so-called) at Alexandria, 
are all inferior to the Kootub Minar. It has been well 
said that the Hindus "built like giants and finished 
their work like jewelers." 

In pursuance of his grand design, the sultan assem- 
bled an army of workmen, who were engaged for 
twenty years upon this solitary minaret. Every Mo- 
hammedan mosque is incomplete without a pair of 
minars, or minarets, from which, as is well known, 
the call to prayer is chanted three times a day. To 
the right of the Kootub is a pile of unfinished ma- 
sonry about thirty feet high, two fifths greater in 
diameter than the base of the completed tower, 
while its lines are more perpendicular. For many 
years a dispute raged among archaeologists as to the 
origin and purpose of this second work. Its tapering 



264 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

sides seemed to indicate that it was the begin- 
ning of a minar — the mate to the Kootub — but that 
it was the mate seemed doubtful from its greater 
diameter. But the archaeologist Sleeman has given 
what is probably the true explanation of the origin 
of the second pile. The incomplete minaret was 
begun first, but upon a larger scale than the sultan 
intended, as its slowly tapering sides, compared 
with the finished one, prove. When they had built 
thirty feet those in charge of the work discovered 
their error, and, by order of the sultan, the work 
was begun again, close by, upon revised plans, was 
carried to a successful termination, and is the one 
standing to-day. If Sultan Abu Museffa had lived 
long enough, doubtless he would have carried up the 
second minaret of the right proportions, and so com- 
pleted his mosque. But Death claimed him for his 
own ; the succeeding years were marked by revolu- 
tion and anarchy; and eventually, with the fickle- 
ness peculiar to Asiatic despots, the old capital was 
abandoned for the new site on the bank of the 
Jumna, eleven miles away. 

" Where rose temple and tower, now resounds 
only the cry of the jackal and wolf ; for the voice of 
man is silent there, and the wanderings of the occa- 



" The Land of the Veda." 265 

sional tourist alone give any sign of human life or 
presence in the once glorious city " — so says a recent 
traveler. 

Sitting on a fallen block of stone a few rods dis- 
tant from the wonderful column, our trio were silent 
from admiration of its beautiful proportions. By the 
aid of a powerful field-glass they were enabled to 
decipher the many inscriptions that cover its sides 
from the lowest to the topmost story, and which 
embody a complete history of the stately edifice. 
On one panel appears the following tribute to its 
builder : 

" The erection of this building was commenced in 
the glorious time of the great sultan, the mighty king 
of kings, the master of mankind, the lord of the 
monarchs of Turkestan, Arabia, and Persia, the sun 
of the world and of religion, of the faith and of the 
faithful, the lord of safety and protection, the heir of 
the kingdoms of Suliman — Abu Museffa Altemsh 
Easir Amin ul Momenin." Truly, a sufficiently 
laudatory notice of one man ! 

The total height of the Kootub Minar is 237 feet. 
Its base is a polygon of twenty-four sides, and its 
circumference is 147 feet. The entire shaft tapers 
regularly from base to apex, and the column is five 



266 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

diameters in height, and divided into five stories. 
The first is 95 feet high, eqnal to two diameters ; the 
second towers 53 feet higher ; the third, 40 feet ; the 
fourth, 24 feet ; and the fifth, 22 feet. Then, again, 
each story is of different design. The exterior of the 
basement story is fluted in alternate concave and tri- 
angular facings ; in the second, the flutings are con- 
cave Only ; in the third they are all triangular ; the 
fourth has a plain face, and the fifth has once more 
concave flutings. Around each floor runs a project- 
ing balcony and balustrade, the effect of which is to 
give the column a bold but pleasing effect. It will 
be seen from the foregoing figures that its propor- 
tions of diameter and height are in direct ratio to 
each other. From the ground to the third balcony 
the material used is fine red sandstone; from the 
third to the fifth white Jeypoor marble is the stone 
chiefly used. 

In the interior the tower is cased with gray rose- 
quartz stone. The ascent is by means of a corkscrew 
stair numbering three hundred and seventy-six steps, 
the "rise" of which is extremely easy. There are 
many openings for the admission of light and air. 

After admiring the minar sufficiently from the 
exterior, Mr. Elroy and his sons essayed to ascend to 



" The Land of the Veda." 267 

the summit. Higher and higher they went, the view 
widening at every story, until the fifth balcony was 
reached. Here the broad plain of the Jumna lay at 
their feet, and distant Delhi seemed only a stone's 
throw away. At the extreme summit they found 
themselves on a space some eighteen feet in di- 
ameter. 

"It has been said," remarked Mr. Elroy, as they 
stood entranced, "that this minar is as remarkable 
among minarets as the Taj Mahal is among tombs — 
peerless in its majesty, beauty, and simplicity. 

"I am told that in 1368 lightning struck the spot 
where now we stand, and necessitated the making of 
a new cap. In 1503 it was again repaired, this time 
by Secunder Lodi, a wealthy and munificent prince. 
Three hundred years later an earthquake shook the 
pillar, and the British, soon after their conquest of 
the North-west Provinces, were made aware of its 
condition, and its restoration was undertaken by the 
viceroy, Lord Hardinge. 

" In 1794 the cupola fell down. It was replaced 
by a sandstone structure entirely foreign to the 
design of the minar. All men of taste deemed this a 
most incongruous head-piece, so it was taken down, 
and this cap, whereon which we are standing, was set 



268 



The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 



up in its place. The condemned stone-work was 
re-erected on that grassy mound yonder, between the 
unfinished minar and the Kootub. See, we can dis- 
cern it from here. 

" Abu Museffa ul Momenin ' builded better than lie 
knew,'" " continued Mr. Elroy, as they stood taking a 
farewell look at the Kootub. " Though every other part 
of his great mosque is in ruins, the minaret rears its 
solitary head like the last of a race of kings looking 
down on the departed glories of his line. Ages 
hence, when possibly the British dominion in India 
shall be a thing of the remote past, the Kootub Minar 
will still bear testimony to the power of a race that, 
while its sway remained, was one of the mightiest 
the world has ever seen." 



The Tomb of Shah Jehan. 



269 



CHAPTEK XVII. 

THE TOMB OF SHAH JEHAN. 

KOM Delhi our travelers took the 
rail back again to Agra, distant a 
hundred and fifteen miles south- 
east of the former city, and six 
hundred and thirty from Bombay. 
Though a part of the city is in ruins, much 
of its original magnificence remains, and 
under British rule it has regained a meas- 
ure of its former prosperity. 

It is the capital of the province of the same name, 
and is situated on the right bank of the River Jum- 
na, and boasts a population of one hundred and fifty 
thousand. For more than a hundred years the suc- 
cessors of Tamerlane and the Mogul emperors spent 
vast sums in beautifying the city, and some of these 
ancient structures are on a scale of great magnificence. 
The fortress, a mile and a half in circumference, and 
once deemed impregnable, was built by Akbar. In 
it, during the Mutiny of 1857 3 more than six thousand 




270 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

refugees, men, women, and children, found refuge 
from the blood-thirsty Sepoys. The royal palace, 
built by Shah Jehan, stands in the same fortified in- 
closure. Here is the famous court-yard with black 
and white Mosaic pavement, arranged in squares for 
a game resembling chess, the pieces in which were 
living men and women, clad in gorgeous robes, who 
executed the various moves at the behest of the em- 
peror who, with his retinue, sat in a balcony over- 
looking the game. 

The Pearl Mosque, fitly called " the pearl of 
mosques," is a noble example of what the union of 
art and unbounded wealth may accomplish. All 
of these sights, together with the public buildings of 
more recent date erected by the British, claimed the 
attention of Mr. Elroy and the boys. But the chief 
reason for their journey to Agra was to visit the far- 
famed Taj-Mahal, a mausoleum erected in the seven- 
teenth century by the Emperor Shah Jehan, in com- 
memoration of his favorite queen, Noor-Mahal. 

The Taj -Mahal was built about the year 1040 of 
the Hegira, or 1662 A. D., during the reign of Kur- 
reem Shah, fifth of the Mogul emperors, grandson 
of the great Akbar. But he is better known by his 
favorite appellation, Shah Jehan, "king of worlds." 



The Tomb of Shah Jehan. 273 

It was erected as a tomb for Lis wife, the Begum 
Ungeman Bunnu, whose title was Moomtaz Mahal; 
she was also called Taj-Mahal, and Noor-Mahal, names 
signifying "the light of the harem" or palace. 

So enamored was Shah Jehan of his wife that on 
her decease he vowed two things — first, that he would 
build for her a tomb that should surpass any thing 
the world had ever seen ; and, second, that he would 
never marry again — both of which promises he faith- 
fully kept, though he lived more than thirty years 
after Noor-Mahal's death. 

The tomb stands in a park on the left bank of the 
Jumna. The Shah's intention was to have construct- 
ed another for himself on the opposite bank, connect- 
ing the two by a bridge, with gold and silver railings, 
his idea being that after death the spirits of himself 
and his wife might be able to hold sweet converse 
with the other by means of this bridge. The founda- 
tions of the second tomb were laid when death over- 
took him also, so his remains were laid to rest by the 
side of Noor-Mahal in her tomb. 

So much of the story of the Taj Mr. Elroy commu- 
nicated to the boys as they drove along the river bank 
on their way to it. 

The group of buildings forms a parallelogram. 
17 



274: The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

There is the tomb proper, flanked on either side by 
smaller structures of red sandstone. One of these 
latter is used as a mosque ; the other is put to no use, 
the sole reason for its erection having been to bal- 
ance and harmonize the general eifect. On this ac- 
count it is called by the natives Jawcib, which sig- 
nifies "the answer" — and which fairly indicates its 
meaning and use. The mosque and jawab are of red 
sandstone and black and white marble ; the Taj is 
of dazzling white marble ; and the contrast is most 
striking. 

The entire cost is computed at fifteen million dol- 
lars. Seventeen years were consumed in the building, 
and the labor was all forced, the laborers being fed 
on a daily dole of rice. The Orientals say the archi- 
tect was one Iza Mahmoud, who was sent from 
Turkey to the Shah Jehan on this special errand ; 
according to others, a Frenchman, Austin de Bor- 
deaux, drew the plans. 

When the carriage bearing our party drew up at 
the grand entrance to the Taj inclosure the scene 
presented through its portals impressed them at once 
by its beauty and richness. The gate -way is two 
stories in height ; there are rooms on either side and 
overhead for the servants, soldiers, and gate-keepers ; 



The Tomb of Shah Jehan. 275 

while the massive gates are of teak, plated with 
bronze, elaborately chased. 

Through this gate-way, where all are forced to dis- 
mount, a charming vista is presented. At the end 
of a long avenue of cypress trees, the middle of the 
avenue being dotted with fountains, flower-beds, and 
basins of water, the fairy-like outlines of the Taj are 
seen. In the gardens by which it is surrounded 
every species of gaudy flower, fragrant shrub, and 
graceful tree flourish ; the incessant tinkle of water 
through the hundreds of irrigating rivulets imparts a 
feeling of coolness on the sultriest summer day; while 
the shady walks, the vine-covered arbors, and whole 
groves of mango, guava, orange, lime, and spice trees 
create an agreeable fragrance, and combine to make 
the inclosure a delightful resort. 

The Taj is two stories high, the central space run- 
ning up into the dome. The roof is flat, and access 
can be had to it by a winding stair. In the center of 
the building is a double dome — the inner one com- 
posing the ceiling of the central chamber, the outer 
one rising to a height of two hundred and sixty feet. 
Four smaller domes ornament each angle of the roof, 
one each over a corner circular apartment beneath. 

The center dome is the grand feature of the Taj, 



270 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

and is the principal object in a distant view of the 
group of buildings. It possesses the peculiar feature 
of all Eastern domes — that bulbous form obtained by 
making them swell out beyond the springing line. 
The dome is capped by a great gilded cap-piece, on 
which is poised a gilded crescent. The walls are really 
built of sandstone, but are completely incased with 
slabs of white marble from six to eight inches in 
thickness. 

But nearly as conspicuous a feature in the external 
view of the Taj as the dome are the four minarets at 
the corners. These are two hundred feet high and 
twenty feet in diameter at the base, but these figures 
give no idea of their beauty of proportion. One in- 
stinctively feels that to add or diminish them by a 
single foot would spoil their effect. Though light- 
ness seems to be their chief characteristic, they have 
none of the attenuated or narrow- throated appear- 
ance of some of the Eastern minarets. Each is three 
stories in height, and at each floor a light balcony 
runs around the tower. Small gilt domes or gilded 
columns surmount them, and access to the summit is 
had by means of spiral stairs. 

But the boys were anxious to enter the Taj itself; 
so, leaving the garden, where they had paused while 



The Tomb of Shah Jehan. 277 

Mr. Elroy had pointed out and noted these exterior 
details, they ascended a broad flight of marble steps, 
crossed a platform of polished white marble, which 
reflected the Taj as in a mirror, and which was daz- 
zling as snow in its milky whiteness, and entered 
the Taj. 

The sudden transition from the blinding glare with- 
out to the cool gloom within was so abrupt that for 
some seconds they did not dare to move. By degrees, 
however, their eyes became accustomed to the " dim 
religious light," and they began to look around. This 
is what they saw. They stood in an octagon-shaped 
apartment, recessed on each side, and about sixty feet 
in diameter and eighty feet high ; in the center stood 
a screen of white marble, inside which were two 
flower-strewn tombs. The real tombs of Shah Jehan 
and Noor- Mahal are in a crypt under this central 
inclosure; those above ground are only "show-tombs." 
In each angle of the main room is a circular chamber 
— four in all — connected by inner passages running 
all around the center apartment. 

The tomb inclosure first claimed their attention. 
The screen, of exquisitely carved white marble, in- 
closes an octagonal space. Each side of the octagon 
is divided into three bays, the center bay of the side 



278 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

opposite the entrance forming an arched door into 
the inclosure. At each angle and between each bay 
are posts supporting slabs of perforated marble of 
remarkable thinness. 

The tomb itself is decorated, to a height of six feet, 
with panels, forming a sort of dado. This is edged 
with a border of inlaid work in precious marbles of 
various colors, and each separate panel bears in relief 
various flowers growing out of pots, such as the rose, 
the lotus, the jessamine, etc. Around the arches the 
Koran is inscribed in black marble, and it is said that 
the whole of the volume is engraved on the walls of 
the Taj. 

At the side of the main tomb is an inscription in 
Persian, of which the following is a translation : 

" The splendid tomb of Unjemaro Bunnu Begum, 
whose title was Moomtaz Mahal, was made in 1040 
of the Hegira." 

On the side of the other appear these lines, also 
in Persian : 

" The magnificent tomb of the king, inhabitant of 
the two heavens, Bidwan and Khool, the most sub- 
lime sitter on the throne of Illeeyn [that is, 'the 
starry heavens'], dweller in Firdoos [Paradise], Shah 
Jehan Badsha Gazee, peace to his remains, heaven is 



The Tomb of Shah Jehan. 279 

for him. His death took place the 26th day of Ru- 
jub, in the year 1076 of the Hegira. From this 
transitory world eternity has carried him off to the 
next." 

The inner side of the dome, which is unlighted 
from without, and therefore very dark, is covered all 
over with the pattern peculiar to Indian Mussulman 
architecture — an intricate system of lines radiating 
from the center, often elaborated to such an extent 
that the eye cannot decipher the pattern. 

"An architect once said," remarked Mr. Elroy, 
" that were it not for the elaborate ornamentation 
and the jewel-like inlaid work, this building would 
be one of the simplest, but at the same time one 
of the most effective, in the world ; and a glance 
at its unassuming main outlines confirms tins judg- 
ment." 

The one striking feature in the interior ornamenta- 
tion of the Taj is the inlaid black marble. Every 
angle, arch, panel, recess, is marked by lines of black 
marble, from one to five inches in breadth ; and so 
skillfully is this carried out that it never becomes 
monotonous. Then the inlaid work is most elab- 
orate, representing all sorts of flowers, picked out in 
semi-precious stones, and each leaf possessing a color 



280 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

all its own, so that all the shading of the leaf-texture 
is gained through the natural color or the markings 
of the stone. 

In some of the roses, for instance, many of which 
are not so large as a silver dollar, there are thirty 
pieces of stone, many of different hue, and the joint- 
ing can only be seen after close inspection. As some 
one has remarked, " It is, in fact, jewelry." And, to 
bear out this idea, in the centers of many of the flow- 
ers around the tombs there were originally several 
large emeralds, diamonds, and rubies, but during the 
Mahratta Wars these were purloined. 

Standing under the dome one becomes aware that 
it possesses a marvelous echo. A verse of a hymn 
being sung, the concluding strains are echoed and re- 
echoed through the arches, dying softly away. The 
devout natives believe that these melodious voices 
belong to the unseen heavenly angels who guard the 
resting-place of Eoor-Mahal and her loving husband. 
This echo is deservedly as marvelous and famous as 
the Taj itself. 

Emerging from the interior our travelers found 
that the shades of night were fast falling. Loath to 
leave so lovely a spot, they lingered long in the gar- 
dens until warned by the rising river mists that the 



The Tomb of Shah Jehcm. 281 

hour was come when no unacclimated person should 
remain in the open air in India. 

As they drove away, the rising moon appeared 
above the trees on the opposite bank and cast a flood 
of silvery radiance on the domes and minarets of the 
Taj. The effect was wonderful — even marvelous — 
and the whole building took on an appearance of 
lightness and unreality to such an extent that no one 
would have been surprised had the entire picture dis- 
solved in thin air. 

Having exhausted Agra and its environs our party 
retraced their way to Bombay, whence they were to 
once more take ship for Alexandria. Until a few 
years ago there was a gap of nearly two hundred 
miles between Allahabad and Nagpore, over which 
the railroad had not been constructed. Travelers 
were forced to make connection by means of dak- 
gharries, a clumsy wheeled vehicle, drawn by horses 
at a high speed. Its joltings were fearful, and such. 
a journey was one to be remembered. But our 
friends were spared this infliction. The entire six 
hundred and odd miles from Agra to Bombay was 
made without change of cars, and in less than a day 
and a half. Eight days after leaving Bombay they 



282 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn, 

again rolled over the railway embankment that con- 
nects the island with the main-land. 

A brief delay of two days, waiting for a steamer, 
the Hindu — a sister ship of the Hooghly, and belong- 
ing to the same line — was spent in a visit to the 
island of Elephanta, lying seven miles across the bay, 
and famous for its remarkable cave temples. These 
are deserted temples of the Buddhists, cut in the 
solid rock, supposed to date from the sixth century 
of our era. Colossal figures occur in abundance, in 
a remarkable state of preservation. The main tem- 
ple is one hundred and thirty feet long, one hundred 
and twenty-three feet broad, and is supported by 
twenty-six massive pillars. 

On the last day of their stay they made a hurried 
visit to the mountain caves of Kenhari, situated 
twenty miles from Bombay. Palanquins were again 
called into requisition for this journey, after a short 
carriage drive to the foot of the mountains. 

These caves, more than seventy in number, are 
supposed to have been a monastery of the Buddhists. 
There is a " cathedral," with columns and aisles, a 
" refectory," and a vast number of cells, all chiseled 
out of the solid rock, and the latter arranged in gal- 
leries. It is a most gloomy and forbidding spot, and 



The Tomb of Shah Jehan. 



283 



our travelers, after spending an hour in the chilly, 
dripping excavations, were heartily glad to return to 
the light and warmth of the outer air. 

On the thirteenth of November, after two weeks 
spent on its soil, the trio said good-bye to India with 
genuine regret. The boys were united in the opinion 
that they had seen more of real interest while there 
than in any other single place they had visited. By 
sunset Malabar Point had dwindled to a cloud-like 
speck astern, and the Hindu, her sails steadied by 
the strong monsoon, was plowing the waters of the 
Indian Ocean, bound for Aden, her first calling 
place, one thousand six hundred and sixty miles 
away, on the road to the City of Alexander. 




284 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE RED SEA AND THE SUEZ CANAL. 

( RIEVED were the boys to learn 
that, so far as his business mis- 
sion was concerned, only two 
more cities remained for Mr. 
Elroy to visit — Alexandria and 
Constantinople. But George and Ar- 
thur speedily discovered that, though they 
were drawing rapidly to their journey's 
end, the latter half of their trip around 
the world seemed to be far more enjoyable than the 
former half. Perhaps this was because Mr. Elroy 
was able to be with them more. Certainly it was 
with no slight gratification that they learned that 
henceforth they would turn aside more frequently 
from the beaten track in order to visit places of note. 
Arthur capered with delight on learning that they 
were to ascend the Nile to Cairo and the Pyramids. 
The six-day voyage across the Indian Ocean was 
unmarked by any incident of note. The monsoon 




The Red Sea and the /Suez Canal. 285 

blew unceasingly, and performed the double feat of 
keeping the passengers cool, and assisting the engines 
in their propulsion of the ship by keeping the can- 
vas full. At Aden the steamer touched for coal. 

This place is about ninety miles to the eastward of 
the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. It is an English 
stronghold, and has been nicknamed " the Gibraltar 
of the East," because of its well-nigh impregnable 
fortifications. They say it never rains at Aden, or so 
seldom as to make a shower an exception, so great 
cisterns have been dug underneath the town, and 
when it does rain enough water is stored away to 
last during the three or four years' droughts that fre- 
quently prevail. 

The Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb ("Gate of Tears" 
— because of the perilous navigation hereabouts) 
forms the southern entrance of the Red Sea. This 
narrow expanse of water is one thousand four hun- 
dred and fifty miles in length, and from twenty to 
two hundred in breadth. Some have derived its 
peculiar name from the large quantities of red coral 
and pink fuel with which it abounds ; but a much 
better derivation is from the ancient Idumcea, " Sea 
of Edom," Edom signifying " red." 

Navigation has ever been hazardous and perilous, 



286 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

owing to the conflicting currents, the numerous coral 
reefs, and the fierce gales which sweep down the 
rocky gorges on either hand. In ancient times the 
Jews and Phenicians carried on an extensive trade 
upon its bosom, but nowadays little traffic exists save 
the transportation of grain and slaves from Africa 
to Arabia. It is chiefly as a highway between the 
East and the West that the Red Sea is used now. 

By steam the voyage from Aden to Suez consumes 
five or six days, and seldom are the shores in sight, 
and to our friends it was the most disagreeable sea- 
trip they had yet undergone, not excepting the mem- 
orable voyage from Yokohama to Hong-Kong. 

On the morning of the sixth day from Aden 
anchor was dropped at the head of the Gulf of Suez, 
one of the two arms into which the Red Sea splits, 
the other being the Gulf of Akaba, and between 
them being the peninsula of Sinai. 

"Here it was, or hereabouts," said Mr. Elroy, 
" that the Israelites crossed over on dry ground, with 
the pursuing Egyptians not many miles in their rear 
and the pillar of fire and cloud between." 

" How far is it across ? " inquired George. 

" I should say about &ve or six miles," answered 
his father, "at this spot where we are anchored. 



The Bed Sea and the Suez Canal. 287 

But it is considered certain that in Old Testament 
times the Gulf of Suez extended much farther north 
than at the present time, so the point of crossing 
may have been nearer the Mediterranean. In any 
case, the number of the men, horses, and chariots 
that perished in Pharaoh's host demands a width 
of sea of several miles." 

Dearly as each member of our party would have 
liked to tarry at Suez, near such historic ground, 
the delay which it would have necessitated was out 
of the question at this stage of their journey. 

Scarcely had the echo of the chain cable rumbling 
through the hawse-pipes died away than the anchor 
was off the ground once more, and at half-speed the 
Hindu started through the ninety miles of ditch 
that cuts the desert between Port Said and Suez. 
The halt had been only of sufficient length to coal 
and to pick up and drop the mail-bags. Of Suez 
itself they had but a glimpse as the steamer swept 
past; but the old and the new town were pointed 
out, the handsome railway station, the new port, and 
the Khedive's summer palace. 

" Though the canal is a monument to the enter- 
prise and ingenuity of the individuals whose pluck 
and perseverance overcame opposition and difficulty, 



288 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn, 

yet it was no new idea," said Mr. Elroy. "The 
ancient Egyptians planned a canal here; in 1798, 
Napoleon the Great proposed a ship canal over the 
same ronte. For a long time the enterprise was con- 
sidered impossible because it was reported that the 
Red Sea was thirty feet lower than the Mediterra- 
nean. But with the opening of the ' overland 
route ' to India, in 1830, it was discovered that the 
levels of the two seas were identical. 

" Even then, opposition was not silenced. It was 
objected that the sand of the desert would absorb all 
the water ; that the drifting sands would choke up 
the water-way, and that it would be impossible to 
keep the channel free. 

" At length a plan for a canal was brought forward 
by M. Ferdinand de Lesseps in 1852. He undertook 
to cut a ship canal through ninety miles of sand ; to 
construct moles in the Mediterranean ; to dredge the 
shallow lakes ; to create ports at Suez and Port Said 
deep enough to float the ships from Australia and 
India, and to adapt the canal to irrigation. 

"A company was formed, work was begun in 
1862, and in 1869 the canal was successfully opened." 

Port Said, the Mediterranean entrance to the Suez 
Canal, is a recent creation, of man's ingenuity, and its 



The Red Sea and the Suez Canal. 289 

construction was not the least difficult part of the 
x entire work. The sea here is extremely shallow, 
with a bottom of mud and ooze, and the problem 
was, not only to construct a harbor, but to excavate 
it to a proper depth, and then insure the deepened 
area from refilling. So two breakwaters more than a 
mile long were run out into the sea, inclosing the 
harbor. And, as no stone was at hand, the engineers 
made blocks of concrete on the spot and lowered 
them to their places. 

Starting from Port Said, the canal crosses about 
twenty miles of Menzaleh Lake, a sort of swampy 
lagoon fed by the Mediterranean. Through this 
lake the canal is one hundred and twelve yards wide 
at the water-line, twenty-six yards at the bottom, and 
twenty-six feet deep, all of which had to be exca- 
vated. An artificial embankment rises to a height of 
fifteen feet on either side of the channel. 

Beyond Menzaleh Lake the heavier work began. 
The distance to the next lake — Abu Bullah — is 
eleven miles, and the height of ground above the 
sea varies from fifteen to thirty feet. After Abu 
Bullah Lake is passed there is another land dis- 
tance of eleven miles to Timsah Lake, where at 

times the cuttings are seventy or eighty feet deep. 
18 



290 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

For three niiles the channel runs through Timsah 
Lake, on which is situated Ismailia, generally re- 
garded as the central point on the canal. Beyond 
Timsah Lake occur the heaviest cuttings on the line. 
At El Girsch the bottom of the canal is eighty-five 
feet below the surface of the surrounding country. 
Thus, though all the lakes lying in the way were 
utilized, there remained ninety miles of sand to be 
pierced before a water-way could be opened between 
the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. 

The Hindu was not the only steamer about to 
make the passage. Before and behind were several 
vessels, some larger, some smaller. Next but one, in 
their van, was an English man-of-war, of great size 
and draft. At intervals of a few miles the canal 
widens for a few hundred feet. These " sidings" 
are for the purpose of allowing vessels to pass one 
another, as the central channel is not large enough to 
admit of two big ships passing abreast. 

Although it was only noontime when the Hindu 
entered the canal, their progress was so slow that at 
sunset they had steamed no farther than the " Half- 
Way House," as Ismailia is jocularly named. It was 
named after its founder, Ismail Pasha, and at the 
time of our travelers' pilgrimage was only ten years 



The Red Sea and the Suez Canal. 291 

old, having sprung into existence with the opening 
of the canal. It is a city of palaces and parks, and a 
fresh-water canal connects it with the Nile. 

From the deck of the steamer, when the banks 
were low enough, a view of the surrounding coun- 
try could be obtained — a dreary expanse of sandy 
desert, with perhaps a clump of palm-trees in the 
distance marking the location of some oasis. Only 
on the borders of the shallow lagoons was there any 
semblance of greenery to relieve the hideous monot- 
ony of the blazing yellow desert. 

Now and then a tiny landing - place would be 
passed, where was an elevated station-house, with a 
parched garden patch, the shrubs and flowers trying 
hard to grow, aided by frequent waterings, in a thin 
layer of black soil brought from a distance and 
carefully spread on the inhospitable sand. 

Just before the Hindu reached Timsah Lake, a 
sentry ran out of his little sentry-box, and made fran- 
tic signs to the long line of steamers which the Hin- 
du was leading. Then a big French packet ahead 
was seen to stop ; next the Hindu's engines were 
slowed down, and finally the ship was brought to a 
stand-still in one of the before-mentioned " pockets." 

Every body chafed at the delay, and all wanted to 



292 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

know the cause. At length, by dint of flag signals 
sent up from the ship-of-war ahead, and repeated by 
the Frenchman, those on board the Hindu learned 
that the war vessel had run aground, and all traffic 
was at a stand-still till she could be floated again. 



ON THE SUEZ CANAL. 



" Wonder why they dou't widen their little ditch," 
grumbled the passengers. 

" Ditch " it really is, for throughout its whole 
length it is shallow enough to wade in save in the 
seventy-foot-wide channel, increased to a hundred 
feet in the sidings. 

This was amply evidenced by a visit paid to the 
steamer by a band of native goat-herds, who stalked 
out nearly to the steamer's side and vociferously 



The Red Sea and the Suez Canal. 293 

offered to dive for piastres, small copper coins, of the 
value of five cents. Never did they fail to bring up 
the money. 

There appeared to be no help for it, and a night 
in the Suez Canal was the pleasant prospect ahead 
of our travelers. Of course, this was no worse than 
a night at sea ; but the sense of lying there inactive 
was peculiarly aggravating. It was too dark to go 
ashore, though the twinkling lights of Ismailia could 
be seen, less than a mile away, and the best thing ap- 
peared to be, as George suggested, " to just grin and 
bear it." 

So, as the sun sank to rest behind the sand hills on 
the right, the ship's company went below to dinner. 
But the saloon was stiningly hot, and all were glad to 
escape once more to the deck. On either side lay 
the dark and pathless desert, unillumined by a single 
glimmer. Overhead the stars shone through an at- 
mosphere hazy with heat, while the lights from the 
bull's-eyes in the steamer's sides were mirrored in 
the glassy waters along-side, whose surface was un- 
troubled by the breathless atmosphere. 

The nearness of the desert was made more ap- 
parent after awhile by the unearthly cry of the jack- 
als, who roamed on either hand, ready to prey on 



294 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

any defenseless goat or donkey left at large by his 
owner. Darkness made these creatures bold, for 
once or twice they ventured to the bank of the canal, 
and gave vent to mournful howls. But the dis- 
charge of a revolver pointed that way drove them off 
for good. 

Seated on the steamer's deck, troops of fancies 
presented themselves to many. The storied sands on 
either bank were crowded with memories of the 
generations who peopled the surrounding lands when 
earth was young. A few miles away, in the valley 
of the Nile, once flourished that mighty nation ruled 
over by the Israelite Joseph ; across these trackless 
wastes another and a later Joseph doubtless urged 
the patient ass who bore as a precious burden the 
infant Saviour of the world and his Mother; still 
later, in the rocky fastnesses of the neighboring 
mountains holy men sought refuge from the corrup- 
tions and cruelties of the pagan world ; centuries 
later still the armies of the great Napoleon tramped 
over this ground, decimated with disease, but flushed 
with victory over the peoples of the desert. 

Then, from behind the hills to the eastward, rose 
the moon, paling the blinking stars to insignificance, 
and flooding the sands, still quivering with the heat 



TJie lied Sea and the Suez Canal. 295 

of the day, with a grayish radiance inexpressibly 
mournful. 

Far ahead gleamed and flickered the lights of the 
party striving to float the British war-ship, and the 
pulling of the steam-tugs and the hoarse beating of 
the great vessel's screw were distinctly audible to 
those on board the Hindu. 

"Do these stoppages often occur ? " inquired Mr. 
Elroy of a gentleman seated near by. 

" Frequently — too frequently, sir," was the rejoin- 
der. u The fact is, the projectors of the canal never 
anticipated that it would be used to the present enor- 
mous extent. Of course, you perceive that with so 
many steamers passing and repassing, the channel 
must needs be somewhat choked by the consequent 
washing of the banks. -Another cause of shallowing 
is the blowing of sand into the canal by the winds 
that have free play over these wastes. This necessi- 
tates keeping dredging-machines constantly at work, 
as you doubtless noticed to-day ; but here and there, 
of course, shallow spots will form rapidly, and then 
along comes one of these big fellows, like that tur- 
ret-ship yonder, with only three or four inches of 
water under her keel at the best ; she slides on the 
shoal, and the canal is blocked." 



296 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

" But is there no remedy ? " 

" Well, two remedies have been proposed. First, 
to deepen and widen the present canal — a very costly 
proceeding. Secondly, to build another canal nearly 
parallel to this one, it being claimed that the in- 
creased tonnage that w T ould be attracted thereby 
would amply support two canals. I am told that 
the cost of the latter enterprise would not greatly 
exceed that of enlarging the present channel." 

In the case of the vessel then aground the mishap 
was explained by another passenger as having oc- 
curred in this way : The channel is seventy feet 
wide ; the beam of the ship is probably not far 
from fifty feet, leaving only ten feet on either side, 
supposing her pilot kept midway in the channel. A 
very slight error in steering would suffice to run her 
aground on the shallows to port or starboard — which 
was probably done. 

Toward midnight, seeing no prospect of resuming 
their journey before morning, if then, our party re- 
tired, and when next the boys opened their eyes the 
first sight they beheld was the blue, reedy waters of 
Lake Menzaleh, through which the Hindu was push- 
ing at a fair rate of speed. They afterward learned 
that the man-of-war had been floated at day-break. 



The Bed Sea and the Suez Canal. 297 

On they went, past the white houses and slender 
light-house of Port Said, at the northern entrance to 
the canal, and soon found themselves on the blue 
waters of the Mediterranean, with the low- lying coast 
of Africa a pale line to the southward. The echoes 
of the sunset gun had scarcely died away when the 
Hindu brought up in the bay in front of Alexandria, 
the towers and domes and minarets of which were 
still tinged with the hues of the dying day. 




298 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn, 




CHAPTEK XIX. 

ALEXANDRIA, ANCIENT AND MODERN. 

ECAUSE of their detention in 
the canal our voyagers found 
themselves doomed to spend an- 
other night on shipboard — this 
time within sight and hearing of the life 
of the great city — no landing being possi- 
ble after sunset at most ports in the East. 
The City of Alexander possesses a his- 
tory replete with reminiscences of stirring scenes 
and daring deeds. Twenty-two centuries have flown 
since the foresight of Alexander discovered its stra- 
tegic importance for trade and conquest, and in that 
period the rod of empire has been borne by some 
of the mightiest makers of history the world has 
known. 

Macedonian, Roman, and Saracen — Pagan, Moslem, 
and Christian — have paced its streets ; again and 
again the tide of battle, riot, and persecution has 
surged around temple column and palace gate; 



Alexandria, Ancient and Modern. 299 

Christian saint and pagan philosopher have taught 
in its temples and argued in its schools ; its walls 
have echoed the glorious hymn of the martyr and 
the dying groan of the stricken gladiator. Caracalla, 
Diocletian, and Decius ; the Ptolemies and the Ca- 
liphs; Athanasius, Hypatia, Cyril, and Theophilus ; 
Antony, Cleopatra, and Julius Caesar; Chosroes the 
Persian and Amrou the Saracen ; Omar, Nelson, and 
Xapoleon — these are but a few of the diverse person- 
ages whose names are so wonderfully connected with 
the locality. 

Once again seated on the deck of the Hindu, a 
delicious breeze from the Mediterranean fanning 
their faces, Mr. Elroy, in response to questions from 
his sons, sketched the main points of the city's 
history. 

" Alexandria was founded," said he, " by Alexander 
the Great, in the autumn of the year 332 B. C, soon 
after the fall of Tyre. He aimed to make it at once 
the center of a vast empire and the greatest commer- 
cial city in the world. In the latter respect his hopes 
were more than realized, and from the reign of the 
Ptolemies until the discovery of the Cape route to 
India, the city on the ]S ile levied tribute on the rich 
commerce between the East and the West. The 



300 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

advantages of the site for a port had been known 
long prior to Alexander's day, and the island of 
Pharos, with the adjacent village of Bhacotis, w T as 
known to the early Greek and Phoenician sailors as a 
convenient harbor of refuge. 

" The ancient city stood on the main-land adjoining 
the present site, where its ruins cover a wide area, 
as you will see when daylight comes, and was con- 
nected with the island on which stood the Pharos, or 
light-house — one of the Seven Wonders of the World 
— by the famous Heptastadium, or seven-furlong mole. 
The modern town is built on a peninsula (anciently 
the island of Pharos) and on the isthmus connecting 
it with the main-land, which has attained its present 
magnitude through the constant growth of alluvial 
deposits, forming a broad neck of land betwixt the 
two harbors — the New Port and the Old Port. 

" The general plan of ancient Alexandria was de- 
signed by Dinocrates, and covered an area fifteen 
miles in circumference. It is said that its ground- 
plan resembled the outlines of the chlamys, or 
Greek soldier's cloak. Two main thoroughfares, a 
hundred feet wide, crossed the city at right angles, 
adorned throughout their length by colonnades. Af- 
ter the death of Alexander the city became the 



Alexandria, Ancient and Modern. 301 

metropolis of the Ptolemies, who added greatly to its 
magnificence. Under them it is said to have con- 
tained a population of three hundred thousand free 
citizens; and if we allow for slaves and strangers, 
this number would likely be nearly doubled. To 
this epoch belongs the erection of the Pharos, the 
Serapeion, the Museum, the Poseidonum or Temple 
of Neptune, the Necropolis, and the palaces of the 
Ptolemies — all, save the Pharos and the Necropolis, 
contained in a magnificent quarter called the Bru- 
cheium. Through the Red Sea the rich argosies of 
Arabia and India floated into the busy port. 

" The last of the Ptolemies willed Alexandria to 
the Romans, but the bequest led to various complica- 
tions and dissensions, culminating in the battle of 
Pharsalia, in all of which the city suffered loss 
of wealth and prestige. It was not until Antony 
staked all and lost at Actium that the city came 
finally under the Roman sway, in 30 B. C. Augustus 
made it an imperial municipality under a prefect, 
and the next two hundred and fifty years witnessed a 
partial return of its former glory ; it was even con- 
sidered second to Rome. 

" But from the commencement of the Roman rule 
may be dated the decline of Alexandria. Many of 



302 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

its choicest art treasures were removed to the banks 
of the Tiber. The Brucheium was laid w r aste by 
Aurelian in the year 273, and it was besieged by 
Diocletian in 296, in consequence of a revolt. Dur- 
ing the siege he destroyed the aqueducts that con- 
veyed the waters of the Kile to the city, and when 
at length the citizens surrendered, imploring his 
generosity, they were treated with the utmost cru- 
elty. At the partition of the Empire, Alexandria, 
with the rest of Egypt, was comprehended in the 
Eastern Empire. 

"More than all else, however, did ridiculous in- 
testine commotions contribute to the city's decline. 
The citizens were of many nations and of diverse 
creeds. The most trifling events led to sanguinary 
conflicts, and the accidental killing of a sacred cat 
was sufficient to arouse tumult and massacre! A 
civil war that cost thousands of lives, and kept the 
various quarters of the unfortunate city in a st'ate of 
siege for twelve years, originated in a dispute be- 
tween a soldier and a citizen over a pair of shoes ! 
Strife between Jews and Greeks, and between Chris- 
tians and pagans, begat bloody conflicts, and in no 
place were the religious disputes more frequent or 
more venomous. In 389 the temple of Serapis was 






Alexandria, Ancient and Modem. 303 

stormed by the Christians, headed by Theophilus, the 
patriarch, and converted into a Christian church. 
This momentous event was the death-blow to 
heathenism, and the city became from this on one of 
the chief centers of Christian learning and theology, 
and maintained its eminence in this respect until 
attacked by Chosroes, king of Persia, in 616. It was 
captured and pillaged by the Arabs under Amrou in 
638, after a siege of fourteen months. But even in 
its decline Amrou reported to the Caliph Omar that 
his conquest contained four thousand .baths, twelve 
thousand gardens, four hundred temples, four hun- 
dred theaters, and a tributary population of forty 
thousand Jews. 

" The final touch to its decadence was given by its 
conquest by the Turks in the year 86S. The rapid 
rise of Constantinople into prosperity and power also 
contributed largely to the decay of Alexandria. 
Successive visitations of earthquake, famine, and 
pestilence did their work ; in 875 its walls were torn 
down and re-erected on a much smaller scale, and the 
building of Cairo in 969 materially detracted from 
its fast -failing importance. Nevertheless, a fair 
share of commerce remained to it until the Portu- 
guese, at the end of the fifteenth century, found a 



304 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

way to the East Indies around the Cape of Good 
Hope. 

"As a center of learning Alexandria once occu- 
pied a proud position. Here congregated many of 
the eminent scholars and ecclesiastics of the classic 
age. Here the philosophy of Plato attained a wider 
development than in the schools of Athens; here 
was made the famous translation of the Scriptures 
called the Septuagint ; here Theocritus wrote his 
thirty idylls ; and here, too, was deposited one of the 
greatest literary collections of antiquity, founded by 
Ptolemy Philadelphus, and embracing, says tradi- 
tion, in its seven hundred thousand volumes, the 
entire Greek and Latin literature." 

Early the next morning Mr. Elroy and the boys 
started out on donkey -back to explore the city. And 
first they bent their steps to the site of the ancient 
Pharos, one of the earliest as well as one of the most 
majestic of those beacons which now girdle the mar- 
itime highways of every nation. It is the first light- 
bearing tower of which we have record, and was built 
by Ptolemy Philadelphus about 300 B. C. From the 
name of the small island in the Bay of Alexandria, 
on which it was built, in Greek pharos, it orig- 
inated the name by which, in classic times, all light- 



Alexandria, Ancient and Modem. 



305 



houses were known ; and even in English the word 
jpharo was once used. 




mods of TBA.VEi.nro mr the east. 



On account of its size it was reckoned among the 
Seven Wonders of the World, ranking with the Pyra- 
mids and the Colossus at Rhodes. It was of pure 
19 



306 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

white marble, but what means of illumination at 
night were used we are not informed. Probably a 
fire was kept burning. 

The emperor desired to perpetuate his fame by 
an inscription setting forth in the solid marble that 
by his orders the beacon had been erected. But the 
architect, by an artful device, managed to celebrate 
himself at the expense of his royal master. In 
the marble front he engraved his own name, and 
over it, in stucco, he placed the following legend : 
" King Ptolemy, to the Saviour Gods, for the use of 
those who travel by sea." In the lapse of years 
the plaster crumbled away, and the more lasting 
inscription came to light : " Sostratos of Cnidos, son 
of Dexiphanes, to the Saviour Gods of all who 
travel by sea." 

Nothing now remains of the ancient Pharos, but 
our trio saw that the site still supports a light which, 
though not so lofty nor of so majestic proportions, 
has a light as brilliant as modern ingenuity can 
supply. 

The next spot of interest was Pompey's Pillar, 
though why so called nobody knows, it having had, 
as Mr. Elroy explained, no connection with the great 
general. According to an inscription on its base, it 




THE ANCIENT PHAROS AT ALEXANDRIA. 



308 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn, 

was erected in honor of the Emperor Diocletian, by 
one Publius, j)refect of Egypt. It stands on a slight 
eminence to the south of the modern city, and was 
erected about 298 A. D., more than three hundred 
years .after the death of Pompey. The shaft is of 
red granite, exquisitely polished, and its total height 
is ninety-eight feet and nine inches. Some authori- 
ties have thought that the pillar originally was put 
to some astronomical use, but this is not by any 
means certain. 

It was originally surmounted by an equestrian 
statue of the Emperor Diocletian, now lost, erected 
in commemoration of his humanity in staying the 
pillage of the city when he captured it after its re- 
bellion in 297 A. D. 

" There was a curious adventure here once," re- 
marked Mr. Elroy, as they stood before the hoary 
shaft. " Some years ago a party of sailors from the 
English fleet lying in the harbor were rambling 
through the town, and in the course of the day ar- 
rived at Pompey's Pillar. Full of fun and mischief 
one sailor dared another to climb the pillar. Others 
said it could not be done, but this only roused the 
spirit of the challenged party, who said it could be 
done, and that he would do it. Returning to their 



Alexandria, Ancient and Modem. 309 

ship, with the help of the vessel's carpenter a large 
kite was rigged up, and a plentiful supply of stout 




ENGLISH SAILORS CLIMBING POMPEY's PILLAR. 

cord attached. Early on the ensuing morning the 
tars repaired to the spot, and, the news of their 
design having gotten abroad, half the city flocked to 
the place. 



310 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn, 

" A smart breeze was blowing, and the kite was soon 
in the air. As soon as it was directly over the pillar, 
it was pulled to the ground by means of a slender 
string attached to the tail, so that the cord by which 
the kite was confined fell exactly across the top of 
the column. Then, by hauling on this, a stout manilla 
rope was passed over the top and secured. By this 
rope the jolly jack-tars went up hand over hand, and 
reached the summit. Here they planted the Union 
Jack, sat down, ate a lunch, stood up, waved their 
hats, and were cheered to the echo by their comrades 
and the throng below." 

A visit to the ruins of the Necropolis ended the 
first day's sight-seeing. Here was the public burial- 
place of the ancient city. It was situated on a 
narrow neck of land between Lake Mareotis and the 
sea, outside the city walls. 

On the second day they were up and out betimes, 
and again on donkey-back bound for the site of Cleo- 
patra's Needle. These two obelisks, improperly 
named, however, were erected by Thothmes III., at 
Heliopolis, about 1500 B. C. They were removed 
to Alexandria by Augustus about the year 23 B. C, 
where for centuries one lay imbedded in the sand by 
the sea-shore. In 1877, the Khedive having offered 



Alexandria, Ancient and Modern. 311 

it to the British Government, it was removed and. set 
up on the Thames Embankment in 1878. 

The remaining pillar stood in solitary grandeur, 
towering to the sky to a height of sixty-eight feet. 
In the same year (1877) the Khedive had signified 
his wish to present an obelisk to the United States, 
and at the time of our friends' visit it was surround- 
ed by workmen and the mechanical appliances for 
lowering the shaft to the ground, so that only a par- 
tial view of its time-worn faces could be obtained. 

" Never mind, my lads," consolingly remarked 
their father ; " it will arrive in New York, I am told, 
very shortly after we do, and then you can study it 
at your leisure." * 

The removal of these hoary monoliths down the 
Mediterranean and across the many thousand miles 
of intervening ocean constitutes one of the greatest 
feats of modern brain and brawn. Yessels had to 
be specially prepared and original engineering ap- 
pliances were devised for handling such masses of 
stone and stowing them securely in the steamers' 
holds. In the case of the American obelisk, the 

* In September, 1880, the famous monolith arrived in New York 
harbor, through the munificence of a citizen of the metropolis, and in 
June of the following year was set up in Central Park. — Author. 



312 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

transit was successfully accomplished ; but in the case 
of the one now in London the steamer Cleopatra, on 
which it was floated, was abandoned in the Bay of 
Biscay during a violent gale, and six lives were lost. 
The Cleopatra was subsequently picked up and towed 
to Ferrol. 

Modern Alexandria is populous and important, and 
the near proximity of the Suez Canal and the intro- 
duction of steam navigation have given a great im- 
petus to its commerce, and nearly every steamer, 
bound to or from Australia and the East, stops there. 
In its outward aspects it impressed our travelers as 
more European than Oriental, and its ordinary life 
savors more of nineteenth century enlightenment and 
progress than any other city of the East. Its popula- 
tion comprises all races, and in Alexandria one meets 
English, Americans, French, Germans, Swiss, Italians, 
Greeks, Turks, Arabs, and Negroes, to say nothing of 
a sprinkling of Eussians, Poles, and Chinese. In the 
European quarter the streets are wide and airy ; but 
in the Turkish precinct the thoroughfares are narrow, 
dirty, and evil-smelling. 

Alexandria is connected by rail with Cairo, and it 
was arranged that our party should proceed thence 
by this conveyance, and then descend the Nile on a 



Alexandria, Ancient and Modern. 31 J 



dahabeah, or Nile boat, after their visit to tlie Pyra- 
mids, which would afford them a glimpse of this Old- 
World "Father of Waters." So on the afternoon of 
the day after their arrival they took their seats in a 
train manned by French officials, and were soon 
whirling through the low-lying country between 
Alexandria and the Egyptian capital, w^here they ar- 
rived at nine o'clock the same evening, and drove to 
Shepheard's Hotel. 



314 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 



CHAPTER XX. 

CAIRO AND THE NILE. 

AIRO is one of the most char- 
acteristically Oriental cities in 
the world. It was founded by 
the Arabs in 969 A. D., and 
has long been the chief center in 
Egypt of Mohammedan learning and piety. 
The older parts are picturesque, though the 
streets are narrow, dirty, and ill-smelling. But 
in this quarter there are hundreds of beautiful 
mosques, and many residences of wealthy Arabs in 
the best style of Oriental architecture. The modern 
quarter is built in European style, with wide streets 
and boulevards. 

A railroad connects with Suez, and, before the con- 
struction of the canal across the Isthmus, Cairo was 
an important station on the overland route to the 
East. It has ever been a favorite residence for inva- 
lids anxious to escape the rigors of a northern winter. 
The temperature is moderate ; it never snows and 




Cairo and the Nile. 315 

rarely rains, but there are very heavy dews at 
night. Commerce is extensive and flourishing. The 
city is the center of the Egyptian system of railways, 
and the great entrepot of the Central African trade 
by way of the river highway and the railroad. 

After a sound night's rest our travelers rose might- 
ily refreshed, and sallied out to see the city sights. 

First in order was a visit to the Citadel, which 
stands on a ridge, and near which are the arsenal, the 
mint, and various public offices in the modern style. 
But what drew them thither were the stories of the 
superb view they heard was to be obtained thence. 

All travelers say the prospect from the parapet is 
among the finest in the world. Almost at the gazer's 
feet lie old and new Cairo ; on the right hand are the 
tombs of the Mamelukes and the Caliphs. Past the 
city sweeps the Nile, its bosom dotted with many 
islets. On either hand, above, below, and opposite 
the city, the country is green as an emerald, such is 
jts high state of cultivation, bounded on the horizon 
by rugged hills, appearing blue in the dim distance, 
honey-combed with the tombs of those who " slumber 
in earth's bosom." Indeed, the whole region round 
about is a vast mausoleum, crowded with the dead of 
thirty or forty centuries. 



316 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

But the central objects in the whole scene are the 
Pyramids and the Sphinx, ten miles away, across the 
verdant valley between. Long and earnestly did our 
travelers gaze at this matchless panorama. 

Regretfully leaving the citadel they turned their 
steps toward the domes of the Tombs of the Mame- 



TOMBS OF THE MAMELUKES. 



lakes, and while on the way Mr. Elroy recounted the 
history of the tribe. 

" The name Mameluke, or Memlodk? he said, " is 
an Arabic word, meaning slaves, bestowed in Egypt 
upon the body-guard of the beys. They came from 




STREET SCENE IN" CAIRO, AND the MOSQUE OF SAID. 



Cairo mid the Nile, 319 

the Caucasus, and were purchased, to the number of 
twelve thousand, by the Sultan of Egypt in the thir- 
teenth century. They were mostly Turks, and they 
soon found their own power so great that in 1254 
they revolted, and made one of their own number 
Sultan, founding the Baharite dynasty, which in turn 
gave place to the Borjite. In general they made 
wise and energetic rulers, and under them Egypt ar- 
rived at a high pitch of prosperity and power. They 
continued to reign till 1811, when they were foully 
massacred by Mohammed Ali, who afterward became 
Viceroy of Egypt." Their tombs cover a wide area, 
and are on a scale of great magnificence. 

But the most pleasing feature of the city is its 
minarets and mosques. These are nearly all situated 
in the ancient quarter. The minarets are the most 
beautiful of any in the Levant ; they tower to a pro- 
digious height, being built frequently of alternate 
layers of red and white sandstone, and so slender that 
the wonder is how they manage to stand the brunt 
of time. The best of them all, however, is that 
attached to the Grand Mosque of Sultan Tayloon, 
built in the year of the Hegira 265— A. D. 879— to 
which our trio turned their attention after seeing the 
Tombs of the Mamelukes. 



320 The Golden Gate to the Golden Hm % n. 

In the main this grand mosque consists of an im- 
mense cloister erected on pointed arches. It was 
erected before the foundation of the city itself, and 
its interior decoration is of the most gorgeous char- 
acter. Arabesques and sentences of the Koran are 
inscribed on the walls, and the floor is covered 
with costly carpets and rugs. It being the after- 
noon, and the hour of service being past, the utmost 
freedom prevailed ; crowds were lounging, chatting, 
and even trafficking, in the supposed-to-be sacred in- 
closure. But our friends were assured that perfect 
decorum and solemnity prevailed during the hours of 
worship. 

In the evening, after dinner at the hotel, Mr. 
Elroy accompanied his sons on a walk through the 
European quarter. Here, in the open air, in front of 
the various restaurants, were numbers of tiny round 
tables, at which were seated numbers of people laugh- 
ing, chatting, imbibing iced drinks, listening to vari- 
ous bands of music, or watching the promenaders. 
The scene was thoroughly European, albeit the pres- 
ence of an occasional fez or turban served as a re- 
minder that orientalism was not far away. 

The next day was devoted to business correspond- 
ence by Mr. Elroy, during which George and Arthur 



Cairo and the Nile. 321 

amused themselves by wandering among the boats at 
the river-side, by gazing at the river from the 
bridge of boats, and by attending service at one of 
the mosques. 

The third and last day of their stay was devoted 
to a pilgrimage to the Pyramids, in the sandy desert 
ten miles away, across the border of greenery that 
fringes the Kile. 

An open barouche met them at the hotel steps, 
and they whirled at a smart pace directly to the foot 
of the Pyramids themselves. The route lay over the 
bridge of boats, one thousand three hundred feet 
long, and by a well-kept carriage road, shaded 
throughout by acacia-trees and well watered. This 
road is a causeway, elevated some dozen feet above 
the surrounding country, so as to be independent of 
the annual overflow which submerges the fields on 
either side. In less than two hours after leaving 
Cairo our travelers were set down within a stone's 
throw of the great piles of masonry. 

So much has been written of the ascent and the 
interior of the Pyramids that we shall not attempt to 
describe the sensations of the party. Every one who 
makes this pilgrimage takes the same means to reach 
the summit, climbs through the same dusty passages 



322 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 



to the same interior chambers, gazes on the same 
sarcophagi, and meets the same crowd of extortionate 
Arab beggars and donkey men outside. The same 
remarks apply to the Sphinx, which stands several 
hundred feet away. After a brief visit to the an- 







THE GREAT PYRAMID ATTD THE SPHINX. 

cient rock temples, now partially buried in the drift- 
ing desert sand, our party returned to Cairo by the 
same road. 

The descent of the Nile from Cairo to Damietta by 
boat was next in order. On the morning following 



Cairo and the Nile. 



323 



their Pyramid jaunt our travelers embarked at a 
crazy landing stage, just below the bridge of boats, 
on a dahabeah, or Nile boat. There are thousands 




A NILE BOAT. 



of these on the river, and by them is all the vast 
commerce of the historic stream carried on. 

These boats vary in length from twenty to a hun- 
dred feet, and in appointments from the dingy craft 
20 



324 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

laden with oil-jars to the gayly decorated pleasure 
boat, with nicely carpeted and curtained cabins. 
The one which Mr. Elroy had engaged had three 
cabins, plainly but neatly furnished, and carried a 
crew of four men besides the cook, one of whom was 
the captain and owner of the boat. She was named 
the Zotus, and was about thirty feet long. 

Yery nearly amid-ships was rigged a tall mast, car- 
rying huge sails, hoisted from the deck. In ascend- 
ing the stream against the strong current these sails, 
filled by the strong north wind, enable the boat to 
make brave headway. But in descending the river 
against the prevailing wind the mast and sails are of 
no avail ; so they are taken down and stowed along 
the deck. Then a curious device is brought into 
play. A huge bundle of rushes is made up, fastened 
to a line, and flung overboard from the prow of the 
dahdbeah. Being much lighter than the boat, it floats 
with the current the length of its tether ahead, and 
serves to keep the boat's head pointing down stream. 
In this manner hundreds of boats may be seen float- 
ing from the cataracts to the sea, consuming weeks 
on the journey. Four days at most would see onr 
friends at the mouth of the river. 

There are no ruins of importance along this por- 



Cairo and the Wile. 325 

tion of the Nile valley, nor is the surrounding 
country of particular interest. But Mr. Elroy chose 
this in ode of returning northward because of the 
insight it would afford into the moving life on the 
river. And highly entertaining and exciting the 
boys found it. Whether in the early morning, when 
the north wind was fresh, and the river was alive 
with the great distended sails of southward-bound 
boats ; or in the heat of noonday, when the breeze 
died away to a murmur, and their own progress was 
quickened thereby ; or in the cool of the evening, 
when, anchored for the night under a steep bank, they 
heard the call to prayer from the minaret of some 
neighboring village mosque, or watched their dusky 
crew angling for fish, or fished themselves, they 
found much that was new and strange to interest 
and amuse. 

At the time of which we write the Nile was " at low 
water." Its annual overflow is one of the physical 
marvels of the globe, for it has risen to within a few 
hours of the same time and to within a few inches of 
the same height year after year for unknown ages. 
From June 15 to September 17 the Nile rises and 
overflows its banks, when, having given fertility to 
the land by its alluvial deposits, and by its moisture, 



326 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn, 

it begins to decrease. To insure perfect irrigation 
and a good harvest the river must rise twenty two 
feet ; while more than twenty-nine feet means death 
to thousands of peasants. That the mighty torrent 
so seldom falls short of or exceeds these limits 
shows the loving care of the Father of all for his 
needy children. 

" Does no rain ever fall in Egypt, father ? " in- 
quired George. 

" Except occasionally near the shore of the Medi- 
terranean, no rain falls throughout the land, and on 
this account its parched and sandy soil would be en- 
tirely unfruitful were it not for the annual overflow. 
To this phenomenon Egypt is indebted for its fer- 
tility, and even for its existence as a habitable land." 

" How long does this inundation last ? " 

" The river begins to rise in Lower Egypt from 
the 15th to the 25th of June, and steadily swells 
during the ensuing three months. In this period 
the entire valley becomes covered with water, and 
the villages, which are built on slight eminences, 
stand out of the flood like tiny islands. The only 
means of communication is by means of the dike-like 
roads or foot-paths that run from one place to an- 
other. When the waters have attained the highest 



Cairo and the Nile. 327 

point, they remain stationary for about ten days, and 
then decline as slowly as they rose. Immediately 
the ground is bare vegetation springs up with the 
utmost luxuriance, and with an emerald greenness 
nowhere else to be seen. But at all other times the 
creak of the c shadoof,' or irrigating machine, is in- 
cessantly heard in the land, the same rude appliance 
being in vogue as when Joseph ruled in Egypt." 

" I understand that the Kile rises because of great 
rains in the mountains around its head-waters. Did 
the ancients know that this was the true cause ? " 

" Ko ; and the superstitious peasants of to-day are 
equally ignorant. Why the river rose so regularly 
was a mystery to their ancestors, and many absurd 
theories and hypotheses were invented to explain 
the phenomenon. The pagan Egyptians believed 
the river was a god, who, in generosity and benevo- 
lence, spread himself over the land to supply the 
needs of his people. So, if the rising did not com- 
mence at the usual time, they prepared sacrifices to 
the deity, who was supposed to be offended. Usually 
a beautiful maiden of noble birth was chosen, richly 
adorned, and then cast into the stream." 

" Does the river always rise to the same height ? " 
was George's next query. 




"shadoof," or irrigating machine. 



Cairo and the Nile. 329 

" Not always," replied his father. " The height it 
attains is a matter of vital importance — a few feet 
either way means the difference between starvation 
or abundance. Of course, the river broadens toward 
its mouths, and the average rise varies from about 
forty feet where the Nile enters Egypt down to only 
four feet close to the Mediterranean. At Cairo, being 
a sort of half-way house, the rise of the river is meas- 
ured from day to day, and if the rise there is less 
than twenty feet there will be in consequence a scanty 
harvest — perhaps famine, because there will only be 
sufficient overflow to benefit the lands lying near the 
banks. If it reaches to twenty-four or twenty-five 
feet it is what is called a i good Nile ;' while if more 
than twenty-nine feet the flood becomes disastrous." 

" There is no doubt, now, I suppose, that the rains 
are really the cause of the Nile's rising?" inquired 
George. 

" None whatever. Indeed, some of the ancient 
philosophers and physicists hit on the true reason — 
heavy rains in equatorial Africa swelling the sources 
of the river. But it is only in comparatively recent 
years that, through the labors of Speke, Grant, Baker, 
Livingstone, and our own Stanley, that these sources 
were definitely located in that immense chain of lakes 



330 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

lying under the equator more tlian three thousand 
miles, as the stream meanders, from the mouth of the 
river." 

" But if the annual rising is always so nearly the 
same in volume and so nearly coincident in time, 
should you not say that the annual rain-fall must vary 
as little also ? " 

"Yes, my boy; and herein is the wonder. Although 
in these days we know more about these phenomena 
of nature than the ancients ever dreamed of, yet we 
are lost in awe and amazement at the wondrous Power 
that holds these forces of nature in hand. For long 
ages the period of the rise, culmination, and de- 
cline of the flood has scarcely ever varied by more 
than a few hours ; and so equal, in the main, must be 
the amount of rain-fall at the equator — so regular the 
beginning and ending of the rainy season." 

" What course does the rain take to reach the 
Kile ? " inquired Arthur. 

"As near as I understand the matter, 'fain falls 
throughout the year in the equatorial lake region, 
but most heavily in March. The lakes constitute 
great natural reservoirs for the storage of the water 
which descends from the Mountains of the Moon ; 
and as the lakes rise the various streams flowing out 



Cairo and the Nile. 331 

of them become swollen. Several of these rivers go 
to form the White Nile, which joins the Blue Nile 
at Khartoom. But not only this : these rivers bear 
in solution rich alluvial matter from the forests of 
the interior, and when the flood Anally spreads itself 
over the fields of Lower Egypt and remains at rest, 
this muddy and extremely fertile deposit sinks and 
remains to enrich the soil. This annual deposit has 
thus been the means of effecting a gradual raising of 
the land — about five or six inches in a century — and 
thus many of the towns of ancient Egypt are now 
half-buried beneath the soil." 

"You spoke not long ago, sir, of measuring the 
Nile. How is this done % " 

" Appliances for determining the height of each 
year's rise have been in use from very early times. 
In fact, there are two of these contrivances still in 
existence. On the island of Elephantine, in Upper 
Egypt, is a ' Nilometer, ' erected in the time of the 
Roman rule. On the walls of the building are writ- 
ings noting the height of the flood for a long series 
of years. There is another on the island of Rhoda, 
near Cairo, still in use, and dating from the era of the 
Arabian Caliphs. It consists of a square stone cham- 
ber on the margin of the river, with a flight of steps 



332 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

leading to the water's edge, into which the water from 
the stream flowed and ebbed as it rose or fell. In the 
center stands a marble pillar, graduated at frequent 
intervals with markings showing the height from low 
water. From certain records that have been found 
it has been supposed that these Nilometers were also 
of service in tixing the current rate of taxation, for by 
their aid it could be determined in advance whether 
the harvest would be abundant or scanty." 




§^ 



Jaffa and Jerusalem. 335 




CHAPTER XXL 

JAFFA AND JERUSALEM. 

AM I ETTA is located on the easterly 
'mouth of the Nile, and about 
eight miles from the sea. The 
population is chiefly Mohammed- 
an, and the town, though of some antiq- 
uity, is not of special interest. From this 
place Mr. Elroy and his sons purposed tak- 
ing steamer for Jaffa in Palestine, the near- 
est sea-port to Jerusalem, their next objective point. 
A small fishing-boat put them across the bar and on 
the deck of a steamer of the "Austrian Lloyds," and 
soon the low-lying African shore was out of sight 
behind the tumbling Mediterranean surges. 

Jaffa — the ancient Joppa, indissolubly bound up 
with Bible history — is situated off the coast of Pales- 
tine on a tongue of land projecting into the Mediter- 
ranean. It is distant about a hundred and fifty miles 
from Damietta. 

It was the port of Jerusalem in the time of Solo- 



336 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

mon, and lias been ever since, and it has been said 
that Jaffa is as difficult of approach by sea as is Je- 
rusalem by land. At this sea-port were landed the 
cedars from Lebanon sent to Solomon by Hiram, 
king of Tyre ; at the same place, also, were the ma- 
terials landed, by permission of Cyrus, for the build- 
ing of the second temple by Zerubbabel ; here Jonah 
" took ship to flee from the presence of his Maker ; " 
and here, on the house-top of Simon the Tanner, 
Peter had his blessed vision teaching toleration. 
These are the great scriptural events with which 
Jaffa has been connected. Since that day it has ex- 
perienced many vicissitudes. War, pestilence, and 
famine have swept over the place again and again ; 
it has been captured by Romans, Crusaders, and 
Frenchmen, and is now dominated by the Turks. 
At Jaffa, too, in 1799, twelve hundred Turkish pris- 
oners, who had broken their parole, were massacred 
by Napoleon. 

It was on a Saturday morning when, in company 
with a number of tourists, our party essayed to land 
at this historic town. At all times this feat is diffi- 
cult, and occasionally dangerous. An immense sub- 
merged reef lies before the city, on which the surf 
beats with fury. A single gap in this barrier admits 



Jaffa and Jerusalem. 337 

small boats to the quieter water beyond. Nothing 
larger than a good -sized fishing- boat can go right 
up to the city. Sometimes it is so rough that the 
steamer cannot stop, and the passengers for Jaffa are 
carried on to Beyroot, whence they must proceed by 
land back to Jaffa. But on this occasion, though the 
surf on the rocks was heavy, and the trip not free 
from peril, it was not absolutely impossible. So, lug- 
gage and passengers were tumbled over the steamer's 
side into boats that put out from the shore, and, urged 
by the stout-armed rowers, the boats headed for the 
entrance in single file. Deftly watching their chance 
between two following seas, all got safely through with 
nothing worse than a splashing. Rowing around a 
sort of breakwater the strand in front of the city is 
in full view, and the passengers are transferred from 
boat to beach in the arms of Arabs who wade out for 
the purpose. There is neither pier nor jetty. 

These Arab watermen are splendid specimens of 
physical development, and the race of the ten or a 
dozen boats that put off from the shore to the steamer 
■ — a boat for each passenger, nearly — was not the 
least exciting part of the landing. 

Not wishing to make a start for the Holy City on 
Sunday, our friends spent the better part of two days 



338 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

in Jaffa, being generously entertained at the hand- 
some residence of the Consul, the interior of which 
was of singular richness and beauty, and situated a 
short distance outside the walls, in the center of a 
region given over to the culture of dates, figs, and 




INTERIOR OF AN ORIENTAL DWELLING. 

oranges. The remainder of Saturday was spent in 
rambling through the town. 

Though the native precincts of Alexandria and 
Cairo had been inexpressibly dirty, the narrow, hilly 
lanes of Jaffa far surpassed them in this respect. 
Foul-smelling Arabs, camels, and donkeys jostle the 
passenger at every step. There is not a thoroughfare 



Jaffa and Jerusalem. 339 

in the whole town worthy the name of street, and 
the veriest slums of Continental cities would revolt 
at the stench and filth. The only lane wide enough 
for a wheeled vehicle is at the water-side. In the 
majority of cases, the divisions between the rows of 
houses are simply winding passages from three to 
seven feet in width, which is generously increased 
to ten or a dozen near the bazars. 

A very little of this unsavory locality nauseated 
our travelers, and they were glad to escape once 
more to the outskirts, where are situated the consul- 
ates, the various mission premises, and some beauti- 
ful orchards and gardens. 

On Sunday divine service was attended at the 
Church of England mission. There were a few 
Turks and Arabs present, but the congregation of 
perhaps three-score was composed in the main of 
English-speaking residents — the families of the con- 
suls — a few tourists, etc. There are in Jaffa a num- 
ber of Latin and Greek Christian communities, but 
their ignorance and superstition, it must be con- 
fessed, degrade them nearly to the level of the 
Mohammedans by whom they are surrounded. 

The rest of the Sabbath was spent in a restful 
manner, for, on the morrow a long and arduous jour- 



34:0 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

ney was in prospect. Shortly after day-break on 
Monday the Arab courier whom Mr. Elroy had 
engaged to pilot them to the Holy City brought 
horses to the door, and by seven o'clock the trio were 
in the saddle. The distance from Jaffa to Jerusalem 
is about forty miles — only a short day's ride over a 
good road. But this is a quality Palestinian roads 
rarely possess, and many tourists prefer to spread the 
journey over two days, camping out one night. But, 
as time was an object, Mr. Elroy determined to go 
through in one day. The road lay through the 
lovely fields of Sharon, the Mediterranean in foil 
view behind as they rose higher and higher ; the pur- 
ple hills of Judea in front. Night had fallen ere 
the city of Jerusalem was in sight, and the evening 
was verging on midnight when, with one lame horse, 
the little cavalcade filed through the Jaffa Gate and 
found themselves fairly in the Holy City. But the 
streets were pitchy dark ; the only out door light 
they saw consisted of a smoky oil-lamp over the 
door of their hostelry — the only decent one in tho 
city — named the Mediterranean Hotel. 

It is sometimes pleasant and profitable to wake in 
the morning and realize that one is in (to him) an 
entirely new city, the impressions completely un- 



Jaffa and Jerusalem, 341 

biased by any " distant view " or " first glimpse " of 
the strange locality. This at least was the feeling 
with' which more than one member of our party rose 
on that Tuesday morning, with the " call to prayer " 
sounding from the Mosque of Omar ; and each one 
realized that, owing to the friendly darkness under 
which they had entered and approached the city, its 
very outlines would be as virgin ground. 

At last they were in u the City of the Great King," 
where the Almighty " recorded his name and mani- 
fested his presence and glory in the Shechinah," the 
city to which the heart of Christendom always has 
and always will turn with a great yearning. 

Jerusalem is essentially a mountain city. To the 
Jew it was emphatically so ; for, with the exception 
of Samaria and Hebron, all the other great cities 
with which he was familiar, such as those of Egypt 
and Babylonia, and Damascus, Jericho, Tyre, and 
Gaza, were in every sense " cities of the plain." The 
word of God abounds with expressions pointing to 
this peculiarity of the Jewish metropolis. The pave- 
ment of the Temple area was two thousand four 
hundred feet above the Mediterranean, and nearly 
four thousand feet above the Dead Sea, the nearest 

body of water of any size. 
21 



342 



The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 



The site on which the city is built consists of a 
rocky plateau seamed with narrow gullies. The 
chief feature is a tongue of land inclosed between 
two of these ravines, and on this spur the city stands. 
The most easterly of these depressions is the Yalley 




MODERN JERUSALEM. 



of the Kedron, running nearly due north and south; 
the Yalley of Hinuom, after running for some dis- 
tance to the south, makes a bold curve to the east, 
terminating the tongue of land referred to above, 
and joins the Kedron Yalley near the Well of Joab. 
Both ravines begin as very slight hollows, but sink 



Jaffa and Jerusalem. 343 

rapidly, until around the city their sides are very 
precipitous. 

But, in addition to the valleys of Hinnom and the 
Kedron, a third depression, though less marked, 
intersects the city. This is named the Tyropceon 
Valley ; " the valley of the cheese-makers," according 
to some, or "the valley of the Tyrian merchants," 
according to others. And a marked depression of 
the ground runs from north to south through the 
modern city, from the Damascus Gate to the Kedron 
Valley near to its junction with the Vale of Hinnom, 
and forming, in part of its course, the boundary 
between the Mohammedan and Jewish precincts of 
modern Jerusalem. The surface of the city is made 
still more rugged by several ruinous sites. 

So much of the topography of the " City of Peace " 
the boys learned by consulting a large map that hung 
in the hotel dining room, while waiting breakfast 
for their father. 

" I am told," said Mr. Elroy, while they were dis- 
cussing breakfast, " that the better way to begin the 
exploration of Jerusalem is to go first to the Mount 
of Olives, as from that spot a better idea of its plan 
can be obtained than from any other. Are you 
agreed \ " 



344 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

" Whatever you think best will please us, sir," an- 
swered George for both. 

So, immediately after the meal, they sallied forth, 




THE 'VIA DOLOROSA. 



and took the nearest route to Stephen's Gate. Their 
guide accompanied them — a young Armenian who 
spoke English fairly well, and who proved, while the 



Jaffa and Jerusalem. 345 

day was yet young, that he not only knew what was 
of most interest, but knew how to reach it in the 
shortest possible time. 

The way led directly through the Mohammedan 
quarter of the city, and through the street known as 
the Yia Dolorosa. It runs from Stephen's Gate on 
the east to the Holy Sepulcher, and is believed to 
follow the route of our Lord's sorrowful progression 
from the hall of judgment to Mount Calvary. 

The chief streets of Jerusalem run nearly at right 
angles to one another. They are mostly unnamed 
among the native population, their distinguishing 
titles having in many cases been bestowed by Chris- 
tians because of their connection with the events of 
New Testament history. 

The thoroughfares are full of inequalities, and the 
foot-passenger is always ascending or descending. 
There are very few level places, and no pains are 
taken to reduce the inequalities which various causes 
have produced. The streets are narrow, and seldom 
exceed ten feet in width ; the houses in many cases 
nearly touch, or, as in several localities, occupy both 
sides of the way, when an arch spans the road, often 
so low as to necessitate stooping on the part of the 
passenger. Here and there a canopy of old mats is 



346 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

slung across the street to keep out the too-ardent 
sun, and though this serves to make the streets 
gloomier yet, there is always a cool breeze through 
these covered ways, no matter how quiet the air 
elsewhere. 

Even in the Yia Dolorosa, one of the principal thor- 
oughfares, our party saw houses perched on heaps of 
rubbish twenty or thirty feet high, and the street 
made to conform thereto. Generally speaking, the 
roads are badly paved with huge round cobble-stones, 
the central part, reserved for animals and beasts of 
burden, being nothing more than a deep square ditch. 
Their very steepness, however, helps to keep them 
cleaner than similar lanes in most cities of the 
Orient. 

Arrived at Stephen's Gate they paused for a mo- 
ment at the spot memorable as the scene of the 
stoning of the first martyr, and after whom the 
gate is named. Then they made a rapid descent 
down the precipitous bank of the Kedron Valley, 
and, after crossing by a stone bridge over the almost 
waterless brook, found themselves at the Garden of 
Gethsemane. The ancient garden probably extended 
across the Brook Kedron, at the foot of the Mount of 
Olives ; there was an orchard attached thereto. The 



Jaffa and Jerusalem. 347 

modern garden is a much smaller inclosure, in which 
are eight venerable olive-trees and a grotto. 

The path led upward again, ascending the opposite 
side of the gorge, past the Church of the Virgin's 
Tomb and the Church of the Ascension, until their 
feet trod the thrice-sacred ground of the Mount of 




TOMBS HI THE VALXEV Q¥ THE KEDKON. 

Olives. It takes its familiar name from a splendid 
grove of olive-trees which once stood on its western 
flank, but which has now in great part disappeared. 
The guide led them in succession to the various 
places where, according to sacred tradition, our Lord 
wept over Jerusalem, where the apostles composed 



348 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn, 

the Apostles' Creed, and where our Lord tanglit 
them the Lord's Prayer. 

Here, on a fallen stone, our trio sat them down to 
drink in the view before them. The summit where 
they now were is about half a mile east of the city, 
which it completely overlooks ; every notable edifice, 
and even separate houses, being clearly distinguish- 
able. This distinctness arises from the fact that the 
city, from this point only, appears to be tilted 
slightly, the ground on which it is built, though very 
uneven, having a marked slope from west to east. 

There, in the south-east corner, nearest to them, 
stood the Mosque of Omar and its beautiful inclos- 
ure, the most lovely feature of the city. The oppo- 
site quarter, to the south-west, was marked by a mass- 
ive structure, which they were told was the Arme- 
nian Convent. The north-west is also marked by the 
Latin Convent, another vast pile. Midway between 
these two the castle, or citadel, loomed up, close by 
the Jaffa Gate, where they had entered the preceding 
evening. The north-east quarter seemed to be 
sparsely built, the houses being far apart, with wide 
garden and field spaces between. The Church of the 
Holy Sepulcher, next to the Mosque of Omar, was 
the most conspicuous object before them. 



Jaffa and Jerusalem, 349 

Apart from the four great structures already 
named, there was no prominent feature on which 
the eye could rest ; a dozen minarets told of the lo- 
cation of as many mosques in different parts of the 
city ; every-where else the eye rested on a dull prospect 
of flat or domed roofs of the whitewashed dwell- 
ing-houses. But distance hid the many hideous 
blemishes which a nearer view reveals only too 
quickly. 

Before descending again, our travelers turned their 
attention to the surrounding landscape. A scanty 
growth of olive and fig trees sprinkled a few of the 
heights, and north of the city a more luxuriant 
growth was apparent. But the prevailing features 
of the environs were parched fields and bare rocks, 
interspersed with fields of scanty grain yellow with 
the drought. 

From the summit of Olivet the Dead Sea and 
the valley of the Jordan, twenty miles away, can 
be clearly discerned ; while the mountains of Moab 
bound the eastern horizon. 

Seen from this distance, too, the height and mass- 
iveness of the city walls appeared to better advantage. 
They are kept in splendid repair, and naturally lead 
one to expect a more thrifty and prosperous scene 



350 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

witliin the gates. Few visitors to Jerusalem are not 
woefully disappointed. 

Retracing their steps, after a hasty lunch at the 
hotel they once more set out to visit the Church of 
the Holy Sepulcher. 




THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHER. 

This is an immense pile, reared by the piety of the 
Middle Ages over the traditional tomb of our Lord. 
If we believe the stories of the monks and priests 



Jaffa and Jerusalem. 351 

who now infest it, it is the scene of a great share of 
the memorable deeds recorded in the Scriptures, from 
the day of Adam to the death of Jesiis Christ. The 
Holy Sepulcher itself is a small grotto or cave, over 
which has been constructed a chapel, profusely dec- 
orated in the Oriental manner. Over this smaller 
chapel the great dome of the church rises. The ex- 
terior of the shrine is adorned with tapers, censers, 
rich hangings, and paintings, and its walls are re- 
splendent with rich gifts from the devout of all 
lands. 

In the year 326, Helena, mother of the Emperor 
Constantine, made pilgrimage to several holy places 
around Jerusalem, and she built churches at Bethle- 
hem and on the Mount of Olives. Perhaps her ex- 
ample (she was then eighty years of age) may have 
prompted her son to like pious deeds. He, it is said, 
discovered the site of the Holy Sepulcher, removed 
the heathen temple of Venus, with which it had 
been polluted, and erected a magnificent church on 
the spot, which was dedicated in the year 335 amid 
great pomp and ceremony. This spot has been ever 
since regarded as the place in which Christ was en- 
tombed. 

Although recent investigations have cast serious 



352 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

doubts as to its ever Laving been the site of the 
Saviour's tomb, it continues to be the one center of 
religious interest in all Jerusalem. For ages it has 
been the cause of fierce disputes between different 
sects of the Eastern Church — Latins, Greeks, and 
Armenians — who each in turn have sought to obtain 
control of the sacred spot, and even to-day, Mr. 
Elroy was informed, the Mussulman authorities of 
the city with difficulty maintain a forced truce be- 
tween the quarreling factions. 

At Easter in each year and during the preceding 
Holy Week imposing ceremonies are performed here, 
to which devout believers flock from many lands. 

Early next morning our friends were again afoot, 
and visited the " wailing-place " of the Jews. This 
is a sort of court in the western wall of the Haram 
inclosure, and is much frequented by pious Israelites. 

The approach is through narrow, tortuous, and 
dirty lanes, the stench from which was almost over- 
powering. The wailers were of both sexes ; some 
were praying in silence ; some were reading out of 
the sacred roll ; while more were audibly bemoaning 
the sad plight of their nation and the degradation of 
the city. 

By Constantine, the Roman edict, forbidding the 



Jaffa and Jerusalem. 355 

Jews to visit the city of their fathers, was so far 
relaxed that they were permitted to enter its gates 
once a year to lament over the desolation of " the 
holy and beautiful house " in which their sires wor- 
shiped God. 

When Julian the Apostate forsook Christianity foi 
paganism he, as a matter of policy, sought to con- 
ciliate the Jews, so he allowed them free access to 
the city, and gave them permission to rebuild the 
Temple. But though they began to lay the founda- 
tions, the speedy death of the emperor probably oc- 
casioned the relinquishment of the attempt, and the 
edicts seem to have been renewed which forbade the 
Jews to enter the city save on the anniversary of its 
capture, when they were allowed to come in and 
weep over it. As we have seen, the custom contin- 
ues to the present day. Every Friday at four o'clock 
the devout go there to wail over the fate of the city 
and nation. 

Wherever our friends went, throughout the city, the 
great dome of the Mosque of Omar, " the Dome of 
the Rock," loomed in sight. This occupies the cen- 
ter of the Haram inclosure, on what was anciently 
known as Mount Moriah, and without doubt covers 
the site of Solomon's Temple. The plateau is called 



356 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

Haram-esh-Sherif, and is an irregular quadrangle, 
measuring 536 yards on the west side, 512 on the 
east, 348 on the north, and 309 on the south. 

The mosque itself is a magnificent structure. It 
is octagonal in shape, and the central dome is of 
beautiful proportions, reminding the traveler in- 




THE MOSQUE OF OMAR. 



stantly of the Taj at Agra. The exterior walls, from 
twenty feet above the ground, are veneered with ex- 
quisite porcelain tiles ; below these the outside is of 
white marble. The tiles are of the beautiful Persian 
blue, and the contrast between them and the white 
marble is charming. The interior is divided into 



Jaffa and Jerusalem. 357 

three circular portions by a double row of columns, 
and the whole is richly adorned with rare marbles. 
The first series of supports includes eight piers and 
sixteen columns ; these form the outer aisle, and 
there are two columns between every pair of corner 
piers. The shafts are of different semi-precious 
stones, varying in height, form, and color. They 
have, all been taken from older structures. The 
second aisle is formed by another set of pillars and 
piers, on which rests the great dome, consisting of 
four piers and twelve columns, the latter being ar- 
ranged in circular form. The style of these columns 
is classic, and the arches of the dome rest directly on 
their carved capitals. The lower part of the dome is 
a u drum," richly decorated with mosaics, divided by 
a circling wreath into two longitudinal sections, in 
the upper of which are placed windows for light. 
The dome springs from the "drum" to the height 
of ninety-five feet and sixty-eight feet span. The 
interior of the mosque is one hundred and seventy- 
four feet in diameter. 

The pavement is a mosaic in marble of different 
hues. In the. center, right beneath the dome, the 
natural rock rises to the height of several feet above 
the level of the pavement. This is the Kubbefres- 



358 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn, 

Sacra, and it presents a surface of fifty-seven by 
forty-three feet to view. Over this rock, says tradi- 
tion, was placed the Holy of Holies in the great 
Temple ; here also was erected the altar for the sac- 
rifice of Isaac. While it is, doubtless, undeniably 
true that around this spot cluster memories of many 
events in sacred story, yet it is also as true that su- 
perstition has invested it with many foolish legends. 
Nevertheless, to the " Dome of the Kock " Moslem, 
Jew, and Christian alike turn with reverence, though 
to the Christian it must ever be fraught with the 
most intense interest and a feeling of regret that so 
holy a shrine should be in the hands of the unbe- 
liever. 

Points of minor interest which claimed the atten- 
tion were the site of the ancient Mount Zion, in the 
south-west corner of the city, now the Armenian pre- 
cinct, where formerly rose the palace of David, where 
David wrote his Psalms, and where Solomon dwelt in 
still greater magnificence, and the so called " Castle 
of David," close by the Jaffa Gate. 

But after all had been seen, both Mr. Elroy and his 
sons felt that the entire interest of the Holy City 
centers in its sacred places, and in these only because 
of what they were in the cradle-days of Christianity. 



Jaffa and Jerusalem. 



359 



For all else the place is an offense to eye and nos- 
tril, and it is impossible to picture the beautiful 
city of David out of the squalor, dirt, and wretched- 
ness of the Jerusalem of to-day. 
22 




360 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE CITY OF CONSTANTINE. 

T was with feelings of genuine 
regret that, after five days spent 
in and around the Holy City, 
crowded in every direction with 
memories of our Lord's stay on 
earth, our travelers were compelled to bid 
it farewell. 

A steamer of the line that brought them 
to Jaffa would touch at that odorous city on the Monday 
forenoon, and, to connect with it, it was necessary to 
leave Jerusalem on Sunday afternoon. Passing out 
of the Damascus Gate, an hour's ride brought them 
to the last height overlooking the city, and from 
whence they must take their parting look. The set- 
ting sun, in a sky of cloudless purple, was descending 
fast to his bed in the Mediterranean as they reined 
in their steeds for a final glance backward over the 
path they had just traveled. Silently they gazed, 
and as the last golden gleam faded from the gilded 




i 



The City of Constantine. 361 

crescent on the great mosque the horse's heads were 
turned, and the route once more taken up. 

That night was spent in the little hill town of 
Ramleh, and long before daylight on Monday morn- 
ing Mr. Elroy and his sons were again in the saddle, 
and at ten o'clock the hoofs of their steeds once 
more clattered over the stony streets of Jaffa. The 




MOUNT CARJIEL. 



steamer was already in the offing ; a few farewells 
were hastily said, the gauntlet of Arab porters was 
successfully run, a boat engaged, and, the sea being 
unusually calm, soon they once more stood on the 
deck of the steamer that was to bear them northward 



362 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

and westward through waters and past shores replete 
with classic story and teeming with memories of some 
of earth's greatest. 

During the afternoon Mount Carmel was passed at 
a distance of about ten miles, and when they awoke 
the next morning it was to find their steamer at an- 
chor before the charming city of Beyroot—" beautiful 
Beyroot," whose gleaming white houses, bowered in 
orchard and shade trees, were pleasantly outlined 
against the blue heights and majestic outlines of 
Mount Lebanon. 

This city is the pleasantest and most healthful in 
Syria, and is the chief sea-port of Palestine. It was 
specially interesting to three of those on board as the 
home of a band of devoted American missionaries 
since 1825. Here, too, the noble Bishop Kingsley 
died in .1870, and here is his monument. Dearly as 
our friends would have liked to visit the tomb of 
their countryman, they were forced to forego that 
pleasure, because the stay of the steamer was but lit- 
tle more than a couple of hours. 

The following day Cyprus was reached, and the 
steamer touched at Larnica. The succeeding day 
saw them at Rhodes, and that evening, sailing 
through the hundred islets of the Sporades, the 



The City of Constantine. 303 

pearly shores of Patmos gleamed in the dim dis- 
tance, reflecting the glow of the sunset. The third 
day, after skirting the low green shores of Scio, the 
steamer entered the harbor of Smyrna, on the Her- 




DISTANT VIEW OF BEYEOOT. 

msean Gnlf, famous as the birthplace of Homer, as 
the scene of the martyrdom of Polycarp, and as the 
location of one of the " Seven Churches in Asia." 

The fourth morning saw their prow still ripping 
the glassy waters of the blue JEgean. Mitylene, 
Tenedos, and Lemnos successively rose to sight out 
of their azure bed, until, under a sky of serenest 
opal, they came to the twin headlands that guard the 
Hellespont, or Dardanelles, the narrow strait, from 
one to four miles wide, separating Europe from Asia, 



364 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

and across which Xerxes threw his boat bridges for 
the passage of his mighty conquering army, and over 
which, many centuries later, the Turkish hordes of 
Suleiman swarmed for the first time into Europe, 
and so ushered in the dark and disastrous story of 
Mohammedan misrule west of the Bosphorus. 

The narrow channel, famed in classic story as the 
scene of the death of the heroic Leander, who used 
to swim across at Abydos— a feat imitated by Lord 
Byron — takes its modern name, Dardanelles, from 
the grim castles that guard the ^Egean entrance ; its 
ancient name, Hellespont — that is, " Sea of Helle — " 
is derived from Helle, a daughter of Athamas, King 
of Thebes, who was drowned in it. The shores on 
the European side are steep and rugged. But the 
Asiatic bank presents very beautiful scenery. The 
tree clothed heights rise majestically in a series of 
terraces up to the range of the historic Mount Ida. 
A few hours' ride beyond these peaceful heights lies 
the storied plain of Troy, replete with memories of 
the past, and crowded with ruins and relics of a score 
of populous cities. Three days after quitting Smyrna, 
after the hundred-mile dash across the Sea of Mar- 
mora, the slender minarets and gilded domes of 
Seraglio Point hove in sight. 



Ths City of Constantine. 



365 



For situation Constantinople is the most fortunate 
in Europe. It is built on seven eminences, like an- 
cient Rome, each crowned by a mosque, and is there- 
fore aptly termed " the city of seven hills." The 
city's site is a nearly triangular peninsula, whose 
northern side is bounded by an inlet called the 
Golden Horn, and surrounded on all sides by water, 
save on the west. Commanding as it does the shores 




CONSTANTINOPLE AND ENVIRONS. 



of Europe and Asia, the Bosphorns being here only a 
mile wide, Constantinople commands ample opportu- 
nities for defense combined with great facilities for 
trade. The seven hills rise one above the other as 



366 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

they recede from the water, and the surface being 
diversified with terraces, gardens, mosques, minarets, 
palaces, villas, and groves of cypress trees, renders 
the aspect from the water most beautiful and im- 
posing. 

" How beautiful ! " exclaimed the boys in one 
breath, as the steamer swung to her anchor at Scu- 
tari. " This is better than the view at Batavia." 

The arm of the sea called the Golden Horn is five 
or six miles long, and is of sufficient depth to contain 
the largest ship afloat. This inlet divides the city 
from the suburbs of Galata and Pera, the latter 
being the place where the foreign ministers reside. 
Communication is had by means of two bridges of 
boats. 

The Seraglio, the palace and harem of the Sultan, 
is on the shore of the Bosphorus, at the extreme 
north-easterly end of the peninsula, and so commands 
a beautiful view of seascape and landscape. The 
grounds are three miles in circuit. The chief en- 
trance to the Seraglio inclosure is named the Sub- 
lime Porte, literally, "noble gate," and from this 
fact the former term is derived — the name in com- 
mon use to denote the court or the government of 
the Sultan. 



The City of Constantine. 367 

The city of Constantinople was founded by Con- 
stantine in the year 330 A. D., who removed the 
seat of the Eastern Empire here in 330, and gave it 
the name of New Rome, which, however, was soon 
changed to Constantinopolis, " the city of Constan- 
tine." It was built on the site of the ancient Byzan- 
tium, said to have been founded by the Megarians 
about 667 B. C. But Byzantium was of very lim- 
ited extent compared with the city of Constantine, 
and probably only occupied the most easterly of the 
famous seven hills. So early as 200 A. D. there 
were numerous Christians in Byzantium, and the 
Greek Christians ascribe the founding of the Church 
there to the labors of Andrew the Apostle. 

Though the common name for the city is Constan- 
tinople, the Turkish title is Stambool, a contraction 
of Istambool, which in turn is supposed to be a cor- 
ruption of Islambool, from Islam, "believers," and 
bid, a " multitude." 

The harbor of Constantinople presents a most ani- 
mated spectacle. At the time of our travelers' ar- 
rival no less than a dozen men-of-war, of different 
nationalities, were in port, and from the stern 
of one fluttered the Stars and Stripes. On going 
ashore they rowed under her counter, and read the 



368 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

name Trenton. Sailing vessels and steamers from 
all parts of the world contributed to the gayety of 
the scene by a variegated display of bunting, while 
slender caiques darted hither and thither between the 
larger craft, lending an air of animation to the crowd- 
ed harbor. There is a corresponding diversity in the 
races inhabiting the city and in the languages spoken. 
The American Bible Society circulates there copies 
of the Scriptures in upward of thirty tongues, and 
these are not all the languages spoken in the city. 

But notwithstanding the charm which distance lent 
to the view of Constantinople, our friends soon 
found that a closer inspection destroys much of the 
illusion. On landing they desired to be conveyed to 
a hotel, and were directed to Galata, where are con- 
gregated the European business houses, and on the 
way thither had an excellent opportunity of seeing 
the city at short range. Like all Oriental cities, the 
streets are narrow, filthy, and badly paved. They 
are unnamed, and the houses are unnumbered, and 
at night they are unlighted, and from the latter 
condition of affairs arises the curious spectacle of 
people out after night-fall going about, Diogenes 
like, provided with a lantern ; any foot-passenger 
found minus a lantern is promptly arrested. In 



The City of Constantine. 369 

Pera the condition of affairs is a little better, the 
European merchants having managed to inaugurate 
more modern ideas. 

At close quarters the houses are seen to be un- 
painted, and turned to a dull brown color by sun and 
wind and rain. But the sights to be seen in Con- 
stantinople are many. First Mr. Elroy and the boys 
were driven to the Seraglio. 

After admiring the Seraglio — from a distance — in- 
fidels being only admitted to a very limited portion, 
our party turned their steps to the Mosque of St. 
Sophia, the principal mosque of the Mohammedan 
world. It is to the devout Moslem what Westmin- 
ster Abbey in London is to Protestants, or St. Peter's 
at Rome to Roman Catholics. It stands immedi- 
ately outside the Seraglio inclosure, and is probably 
the finest example of Byzantine architecture now in 
existence. 

Pausing for a moment outside, they were enabled 
to appreciate its vast proportions. It is in the form 
of a Greek cross, 269 feet long, 143 feet broad, and 
is surmounted by the inevitable flattened bulging 
dome 180 feet high, besides a small forest of cupolas 
and minarets. The walls are of brick, but the in- 
terior is lined with costly semi-precious stones and 



370 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

adorned with paintings. But the effect is greatly 
marred by a vast amount of trumpery ornamenta- 
tion in the worst possible taste. 

"St. Sophia was originally built as a Christian 
Church by the Emperor Justinian, between the years 
531 and 538," said Mr. Elroy, "but was converted 
into a mosque, by Mohammed II. in 1453. It is said 
that the temples of Heliopolis, Delos, Athens, and 
Baalbec were plundered of their richest decorations 
to add to its splendors." The walls are covered with 
inscriptions from the Koran. 

It is a peculiar feature of the religious architecture 
of Constantinople that all the mosques are built after 
the general type of St. Sophia, and that was origi- 
nally designed for a Christian church ! In nearly 
every instance the Greek cross is the basis of the 
plan, and all have similar domes and slender-pointed 
minarets at each of the four corners. The imperial 
Mosque of Achmed is the only one that boasts of six 
minarets. 

There is very little difference in the interior ar- 
rangements of Mohammedan mosques, and our 
friends saw nothing at St. Sophia essentially different 
from those at Cairo or in the Mosque of Omar at 
Jerusalem. The same scrupulous respect to the 



The City of Constantine. 373 

place was maintained during hours of service, and 
the same irreverent crowds chattered and laughed at 
other times. 

In all Moslem countries a salient feature are the 
constant calls to prayer made from the minarets con- 
nected with the places of worship. But nowhere 
was this more marked than in Constantinople. 
Seven times by day and seven times by night the 
sonorous voice of the muezzin issues from the balcony 
of the minaret, having for its burden the solemn 

chant : 

" Allah ekber 1 Allah ekber ! 

Eshedon en la Allah ilia Allah ! " 

which, rendered into English, means: 

"God is great! God is great! 

I testify there is no god but God!" 

On Fridays, the Mohammedan Sabbath, the follow- 
ing more lengthy form is used: 

" God is great! God is great! 

I testify there is no god but God! 

I testify that Mohammed is the Prophet of God. 

Come to peace ! Come to happiness ! 

God is great ! There is no god but God ! " 

Because of the many mosques and minarets in this 
chief city of the Moslems the stranger is always 



374: The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

within hearing of this cry. ~No matter where he 
may be, or what he may be doing, at the sound of 
the muezzin's voice the devout Mohammedan falls 
on his knees on his strip of carpet, his face toward 
Mecca, and offers up his prayer to the Most High 
God. The effect is most striking, and our travelers, 
when in the bazars, frequently heard a sudden hush 
come on the chattering crowd, while hundreds of 
turbaned forms fell on their knees and engaged in 
silent devotions. That over, business was resumed 
as before. Often in the dead of night they were 
aroused by the musical refrain : 

"Allah ilia Allah!" 

There are numberless other shrines of interest 
in and around Constantinople. One day they went 
to the Church of St. George, the Greek patriarchal 
church. It is a very ancient edifice, adorned inter- 
nally with beautiful mosaics and Byzantine paint- 
ings. Outside it is entirely devoid of ornament. 
Among the " relics " they were shown were the 
chair of St. Chrysostom, in which the patriarch is 
enthroned during the great festivals, and the pillar 
to which our Saviour was bound when he was 
scourged ! 



The City of Constantine. 375 

In another Greek church they were shown a holy- 
chest containing the vestments of the Yirgin Mary 
and a miraculous image, the veil of which was raised 
every Friday evening and remained in that position 
till vespers on Saturday! 

They next turned their steps to the " Church of 
the Yirgin at the Golden Spring," not because of 
any great interest attaching to the building, but 
because of a curious legend connected therewith. 
It is related that during the last Turkish siege a 
monk refused to credit the news that the Turks had 
scaled the walls, saying, " I would rather believe that 
these fish I am frying would leap out of the pan of 
boiling oil and swim around in the cistern!" 
Scarcely had he uttered these words when the half- 
broiled fish really did leap out of the pan and into 
the cistern near by; and their descendants to this 
day are red on one side and brown on the other 
in commemoration of the event! 

On the third morning of their stay Mr. Elroy was 
offered an opportunity to witness the Turkish punish- 
ment of the bastinado, and, accompanied by the boys, 
availed himself of the invitation. Entering the hall 
of justice they were escorted up the room by the sol- 
diers, and led to a raised dais whereon sat the pre- 



376 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

feet. He motioned them to seats at his side, and 
tiny cups of coffee were then handed round. Noth- 
ing can be done in Turkey without the drinking of 
coffee. Precisely at the hour of noon the culprits 
were brought in — men of the lower class charged 
with petty thieving. Their feet were bare, and their 
clothing ragged, and they listened to the sentence 
delivered by the prefect with dogged, downcast 
looks. Each was to receive twenty strokes. 

At a signal the torturers entered — five in all. At 
a nod from the great man on the bench four of them 
forced one of the culprits on his face on the marble 
floor, in which position his shoulders were held down 
by two of the attendants ; his legs were raised until 
the soles of his feet were in a horizontal posture, in 
which they were secured by cords held by the other 
two assistants. The criminal was now unable to 
move hand or foot. Then the chief stepped forward, 
whip in hand, consisting of five strands of twisted 
gut or hide. Raising his arm he struck, with the 
regularity of a machine, at the upturned soles of the 
prostrate prisoner. At the fourth stroke the un- 
happy man uttered a cry of pain, which soon be- 
came a scream of agony under the repeated lash- 
ings, and the tender flesh was ribbed with the 



The City of Constcmtine. 377 

marks of the lash. The spectacle was a most repul- 
sive one to American eyes, and, as the poor wretch 
hobbled off, our friends made hurried adieus to the 
prefect, glad to be released from the scene of torture. 
But, ere they were well clear of the building, the 
screams of the second victim rung in their ears. 

In their rides around the environs of Constantino- 
ple Mr. Elroy and George and Arthur found much 
to interest and amuse. Scutari, on the Asiatic shore 
of the Bosphorus, is the great landing-place for all 
the foreign commerce. It is also famed in Turkish 
annals as the place whence the Mohammedans set out 
to conquer the rest of Europe, and is revered accord- 
ingly. The Turks consider it, on tln> account, sacred 
ground, and, also on this score, it has a burying-ground 
larger than any other in the vicinity. Near this 
cemetery are the military hospitals where the heroic- 
Florence Nightingale performed her many works of 
mercy during the Crimean War. On the shores of 
the Bosphorus, too, stands Robert College, endowed 
by Christopher E. Eobert, Esq., of the city of New 
York, and founded through the energetic effort of 
Dr. Hamlin. 

The mosque and village of Eyoub, a short dis- 
tance above Constantinople on the shore of the 
23 



378 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

Golden Horn, is another spot revered by the faithful. 
Eyoub was the Prophet's standard-bearer, and he 
fell in the Saracenic attack on Stambool in the year 
668. Tire legend has it that, through a miracle, 
Mahomet II. recovered his body in 1453, and built 
here the mosque to shelter his remains. In the 
mosque are preserved the sword of Othman, which 
the sultans always assume when ascending the 
throne; and also a stone, surrounded by a silver 
plate, and bearing the imprint of the foot of the 
Prophet which he made in the rock at the building 
of the Caaba! 

The open-air life of Constantinople was a never- 
failing source of wonder and amusement to George 
and Arthur. Access to the houses of the Turks 
is difficult for an infidel, as they politely term all 
who differ from them in religious belief; and, 
;as the style of domestic architecture favored in 
the native quarter presents a blank wall with few or 
no windows, and then only high up and lattice- 
guarded, and a narrow slit in the wall for a door, 
there is imparted to the streets an indescribable air 
of dullness and desertion. A wealth of decoration is, 
however, lavished on the interiors of some of the 
native houses. But in the bazars, as the thorough- 



The City of Constantine. 



379 



fares given over to trade are called, the scene was 
most animated, and the constant stream of foot- 
passengers of every nation and costume under 
heaven seen against the backgrounds of rich stuffs 
and costly merchandise, presented a moving pano- 
rama of life and color seldom seen elsewhere. 




AN OMENTAL INTERIOR. 



Toward evening the cafes become thronged with 
grave-looking Turks in turbans and flowing robes, 
who silently sip their coffee. But at night-fall 
the natives retire to the seclusion of their homes, and 
the streets are given over to the multitudes of owner- 
less and savage dogs, who roam at will, acting as scav^ 
engers. 



380 The Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. 

Altogether the four or fi.ve days spent in the city 
on the Bosphorus were most pleasant, and it was 
witli genuine regret that George and Arthur heard 
the command " Right about face for home ! " 

But now the time has arrived when we must leave 
the friends with whom we have journeyed nearly 
round the globe, visiting many strange climes and 
vastly different peoples. 

" It seems to me," George had once remarked, 
"that we have been saying 'good-bye' ever since we 
left New York. In every port we have met kind 
friends and pleasant acquaintances whom it cost us a 
pang to part from." 

So, likewise, our turn has come to say farewell to 
Mr. Elroy, George, and Arthur. For lack of space 
we may not accompany them in their flight through 
Europe, nor describe their flittings from one historic 
capital to another, nor their voyage across the bois- 
terous Atlantic — the last expanse of trackless sea 
separating them from home and relatives. 

Alike to them and to the patient reader we say 

Good-Bye. 






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